Because She Is Different
by LilyWrites
Summary: Bella and her family move to Forks. Will she and her vintage/rock style fit in? Can she overcome her prejudices and aversion to the most popular clique at school composed with Alice, Rosalie, Jasper and Edward. Can Alice show her she's different? B/A AH
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**

Bella and her family move to Forks. She and her twin brother Emmet attend Forks High School as seniors. Will she and her vintage/rock style fit in? Can she overcome her prejudices and aversion to the most popular clique composed with Alice, Rosalie, Jasper and Edward? And can Alice show her that she is different? All Human

**Well.. This is my very first Story for FanFiction. No. This is my first attempt to write fiction.. ever. So please be nice :P. **

**Oh. And English is not my mother language. If I made any mistakes, feel free to let me know, so I can correct them.**

**I hope you'll enjoy this.**

**This chapter is more an introduction, because it is rather short.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Chapter One:

"Ugh! I'm done!" I would have never thought that moving would be this exhausting. Carrying heavy things, unpacking boxes, place things in shelves and assembling furniture are not things I enjoy to do.

Now, all I could do was lying on my bed, and try to forget all the mess that was still around me. "Bella! Move your lazy ass! We have some more boxes that need to get unpacked," I heard my annoying brother yell. "Grr.. 'm cummin," I mumbled into my pillow. "Just give me a minute to relax".

Wow. He didn't respond to this one. That was something new. Was he actually giving me time to rest an leave an opportunity to bother me? Maybe the whole „moving" thing does him good.

Just when I was about to close my eyes, I heard my door burst open and in the next moment my stupid brother lifted me over his shoulders and ran downstairs into the living room. The whole way I was screaming and pounding my fists on every part of his massive body I could reach. He just laughed at me and my worthless attempts to hurt him. Which made me just more furious.

There went my plan to just lie in my bed and play my guitar, to fill the peaceful silence. I should have known better. My „big" brother Emmet always has to be a pain in my ass.

People never believe me when I told them he was my twin brother. They wouldn't even guess that we were related. I can't blame them, though. We look nothing alike.. Well maybe our hair color. We both have dark hair while mine was more like a chestnut color his was almost black. But that's the only thing.

Emmet might be very intimidating towards others because of his outward appearance. According to him he is 6'6 tall but I would tend to 6'5. Which doesn't make such a difference, I know. He is still huge. With his strongly built and muscled body he looks like a weight lifter.

But if you get to know him better you rather see him as a teddy bear, than a grizzly bear. He is full of jokes and with his playful manner and childish behavior he seems like a a 10 year old boy in the body of an 18 year old man. Okay, he looks more like 21. Of course, he is sporty and obsessed with football. In our school in Phoenix almost every girl fell head over heals for him.

Well.. About me. As I mentioned before, I am the opposite of him. I'm neither very tall nor petite, I'm about 5'7. I wouldn't say, that I have a perfect body. For that I have too little muscle, probably because I've never done any sport. For a reason.

I am the less athletic and the most clumsy person..ever. I can't even walk on a flat ground without stumbling. No. Bella is a klutz. In Phoenix nobody was surprised, when I came with a broken leg or arm or bruises to school. I just can't help myself. The only thing I can do is hope that here in Forks a wonder happens and I wouldn't embarrass myself non-stop.

Actually I am a very shy and self-conscious ..but psst! I try to cover it up with indifferent and cold behavior. Emmet is full of him self. Not that he is bigheaded but he would never be shy or something. And he has no problem with making a fool out of himself.

Here I sat on the couch, fighting for air because my brother started tickling me. How I loathed it. Why do I have to be so ticklish? "S-Stop! I can't breath. Emmet. Please," I managed to squeal between my giggles.

"Enough! Emmet! " my mother Renee shouted out of the kitchen. "I thought you wanted to finish unpacking those boxes, so we can start dinner."

That got his attention. Whenever someone mentions something to eat, he starts to drool and gets impatient. Like a fucking dog.

"What's for dinner? You didn't cook yourself did you," he asked nervous. I couldn't help myself, but laugh inwardly. Damn it. I just can't stay mad at him, when he acts like that. Urgh.

"No. But thank you very much," Renee answered a small smile on her lips. "I ordered some Pizza and Pasta." Emmet almost leaped for joy. Boy! Calm down. It's not that we eat that almost every week.

"Where's dad?" I asked. "He will be here any minute. He has to take care of some things regarding his new position as the police chief," she answered and it was obvious that she was proud of her husband. I couldn't understand her enthusiasm for it. I mean we are in Forks with, I don't know 3000 citizen. I doubt that anything "big" would ever happen here.

Of course this job is far better than his crappy mall-security thing he had. So I decided not to say anything.

As if on cue, my father Charlie came through the door. "Hey dad," Emmet and I greeted. He acknowledged us with a warm smile and mum with a peck on her cheek.

"I see, you want to eat late today. Or why is your stuff still downstairs?" Charlie asked us. He wasn't mad. He just wanted to tease Emmet. With success.

My brother crossed his arms and pouted. „I would have been done a long time ago, if Bells didn't distract me," he whined.

"Oh. Come on! You know it's not my fault. If you had not kidnapped me and tickled me almost to death, I might have done something productive," I said shooting daggers at him.

Renee and Charlie just laughed at our childish behavior and started to carry some of the many boxes in their room.

Groaning I started with my things. While unpacking a few of my boxes I found my little "treasure chest" with all my most important belongings, that mean something for me, like jewelry, letters or pictures. I picked one of the pictures, where my two best friends Lila and Jack grimaced at each other. We were inseparable. Knowing that I can't see them every other day, or at least once a week, made sad.

Only now I realized how much I miss them already... "Bella, Emmet. Dinner's ready!" my mum pulled me out of my preoccupation of mind.

By the time I arrived at the table, Emmet ate already half of his pizza. Seriously, how can someone eat that fast?

Today I've chosen pepperoni pizza, which I immediately started to eat. "So, are you exited for your first school day tomorrow?" dad asked.

"Yes. It will be great. I'll try out for their football team, of course," Emmet answered. "Oh, I'm sure you are going to make it in their team," dad replied, which made Emmet smile. I know, he will kick their asses.

"And you Bella. Are you looking forward to it?" I swiftly stuffed another slice off pizza in my mouth, so I didn't have to answer his question immediately. I wasn't looking forward to it. Hell no. I wish I could just stay at home. I didn't want to be the new girl. In this small town like Forks, I bet they already knew that they'll get two new students.

"Yeah, mum. It will be great," I tried not to sound too sarcastic. Of course my mother knew me better. She could read me like an open book, which is really annoying. I think she felt that I was a little bit nervous.

"Oh, honey. Don't be afraid. I know you'll get to know a lot of nice people. I'm sure, you'll find new friends in no time," she tried to convince me. "Okay, mum. We'll see," I answered.

After dinner I quickly got ready for bed, brushed my teeth, slipped in my super comfy sweatpants and an oversized bandshirt of ACDC and fell into my bed.

I knew I would't sleep very well tonight, because I would worry about tomorrow. I just hope I won't do something stupid and embarrass myself in front of the whole school.

I was absolutely not looking forward to go there. I hate getting "socially active". And I'm not like Emmet, who finds new friends in like 5 minutes. I am not an outgoing person. Not at all. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be awful.

**This was chapter one. I hope you liked it. Next chapter will be longer. And Bella finally meets Alice.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for reviewing my last chapter. It made me really happy to see that you liked my story so far. Anyways, I don't know if you noticed, that I changed the first chapter a bit. Stupid me didn't think about the fact that a tree house in Phoenix would be really unlikely, so I just deleted that scene. Thank you ****swwblackhawk**** for reminding me of that fact.**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight

_Beep Beep Beep! _The annoying sound of my alarm made it impossible for me to keep sleeping. Urgh. Still half asleep I reached out to turn this stupid thing off.

It was hard to find a way around the mess in my room in the daytime, but now in my dim room, I just had to slip on something on my floor. With a loud _thud_ I landed not very graceful on my butt. "Ouch! Damn it!"

Emmet must have heard it, because in the next moment he peeked through my door an turned on the light. When he saw me lying awkwardly on the floor between all my stuff, he couldn't restrain some small giggles. "Morning Bells. Got up on the wrong side of bed, huh?" he asked with a dumb smile on his face.

"Haha. Very funny, idiot!" I said, trying unsuccessfully to get up. Emmet, who saw me struggling, helped me up. "Thanks," I mumbled. My mood already hit rock bottom. Way to start your first school day. Yey!

"Now, let's get ready. We don't want to be late for school. Do we?" With that said, we went downstairs to eat something. I was still rubbing my sore butt, shit this gonna hurt for a while.

My dad was already at work and my mum was probably in her room, deciding which outfit she is going to wear for her hiring interview. Fork's Hospital is offering the position for a medical secretary and she wants to apply for the job. I think that she is qualified for the job. First of all, because she used to be a secretary for a pediatrician and secondly because she is a very kind and friendly person. She knows how to deal with people.

Because nobody had the time make something for breakfast, we had to settle for a big bowl of Cheerios and a big cup of coffee. I can't work properly without my daily dose of caffeine.

After having to watch Emmet shovel spoon after spoon in a not very appetizing way, I rushed to the bathroom to take a shower. Thank God that we had two bathrooms, otherwise Emmet and I would have to fight over it every morning.

I love taking showers. It helps to clear my mind. When the hot water washed over me, I was finally able to release some tension. Freshly showered and a little bit more relaxed, I took a towel and wrapped it around me. With a glance at the clock I realized, that I had just a few minutes left. Shit that shower thing took me longer than I thought.

Quickly I hasted into my room and rummaged in my closet for an outfit to wear. Without any further thoughts I took a bra, some boy shorts and my favorite pair of jeans, my worn out skinny ones with some holes in it, and put them on.

"Bella hurry up! I don't want wait the whole day!" my brother shouted impatiently. "Yeah. Just one sec!" I shouted back slipping in a plain white tee, a red plaid shirt and my black converses. Shit no time to do my hair.

On my way to the door, I grabbed my bag and my leather jacket. I didn't come far because my mum stopped me and said "Hey, slow down. Don't you want to say good bye to your mummy?" „Yeah. Sorry mum. Good luck with your interview."

I quickly placed a kiss on her cheek but before I could go outside, she hugged me and whispered "Thank you. Have a nice school day. And don't worry too much, promise?" "Yeah mum," I replied and got out of her embrace. "Bye mum!" Emmet and I said in unison and went to his car.

He recently bought a big, broken-down Jeep from the money he got for working at a garage. After a month of pottering around the car he finally got it started. He was very proud of his deep blue vehicle.

In the car I tried to straighten my still slightly wet hair with moderate success, while combing the long brown locks with my hands. Fortunately it was raining, so there's a chance that I'm not the only one with wet hair. I hoped the weather won't always be like that.

I heard that Forks is known for it's nasty weather, therefore the possibility of weather like this is rather high. Fuck my live. Yeah, it may not seem, as if I am a "sunny girl", but I just love the heat and eating ice cream. Even though I am very pale, it doesn't mean that I don't enjoy going to the beach. Maybe if I was tan or had at least blonde hair or would be sporty I would have fit in in Phoenix. But I doubt that I would ever fit in anywhere. I also disbelieve, that I will ever find friends like Lila and Jack, who accepted me as I am.

"Hey. What's up. Baby sis?" Emmet reminded me where I was. Sitting in his car, on the way to Forks High. „Isn't it exciting. Starting all over. It's like having a clean slate. I will no longer be the first person, the teachers blame of having done something.." "..yet. It's not like you were innocent. I bet they were right, when they accused you because of some of your pranks," I answered.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm just saying, that we can do something out of our situation. Oh. We're there. Look Bella." And suddenly my nervousness came back, as he pulled into the parking slot, because every student that was already at the school grounds stared at our Jeep. Thank God, there were only a few people because Emmet was a fast driver and we still had 20 minutes till our first periods started.

"I think the office is in that building direction," I pointed to the building on our left. "Okay, then let's go," Emmet said, taking his bag and hurrying in the direction, because it started raining cats and dogs. I also grabbed my bag and followed him. Thankfully my jacket was hooded because I forgot an umbrella.

The office was small and on the first sight I thought I was in a greenhouse. I mean there were about 50 plants in such a small room. Anyways, behind a desk sat a red haired woman, who adjusted her glasses, when she saw us.

First she looked a bit scared, maybe because my brother almost filled half of the office, but as soon as he showed his "gorgeous" smile, she began to relax. "Good morning. Can I help you?" She looked to me and slightly confused to Emmet. I guess that she overestimated his age, and didn't think he would be only eighteen.

"Yeah.. I'm Emmet Swan and this is my sister Isabella" he grinned in my direction. I elbowed him lightly in the side, because he knows very well, that I hated being called by this name.

"Oh. Yes of course, the Swans, I've been expecting you," she said digging through some documents. She handed me two staples of papers. One staple for me and one for Emmet, which consisted of our schedules, a map and several other sheets.

Outside of the office Emmet and I went through our schedules and noticed that we had hardy any lessons together. "The first time we will going to see each other will be at lunch. Your first class is Math and mine is English. I think we have to separate here," I explained.

"Alright. See you later, sis." He gave me a pat on the back and left me standing on my own.

According to the information I got, I had to go to building number three. I tried to orient myself with the help of the map, when I felt someone tapping my shoulder.

"Hey! You must be Isabella. I'm Eric Yorkshire," he introduced himself and reached out to shake my hand.

A little surprised I shook his hand and said: "Yes. But please call me Bella." He smiled and not until now I was able to notice his lanky frame, his long dark hair and his slightly pale skin. 'Yes. I thought. I'm not the only pale student.'

"You look a little lost. Can I help you with something?" "Yeah. I have to get to my English lesson in building number three," I answered. "Cool. Then we have English together." If even possible his smile grew wider. I was just relieved, that I met a nice person, who showed me the way and that I would not come too late to my first class.

On our way I noticed how crowded the place became. I could see how heads turned in my direction and pulled the hood of my jacked as deep as I could. Under all these curious stares I felt the heat rush to my cheeks and I knew that my face turned red.

Finally, he stopped in front of a door. "Here we are. After you, Bella." He winked and opened the door for me and I quickly stepped in. Was he trying to flirt with me? I tried to get this disturbing thought out of my head and went to the teacher.

Mr. Mason signed my slip and sent me to the table next to a girl with dark hair and a waving Eric. I walked over to them, trying not to make eye contact with the other students and sat next to the shyly smiling girl.

"Hey. I'm Angela. Eric already told me, that you are Bella." While she introduced herself, I knew that most of the people were watching me again. For the very first time, I was glad that the teacher started his lesson so that the class directed their attention to Mr. Mason and not towards me.

English was OK. Most of the books, we were supposed to go threw during the next year, I already read.

It turned out, that Angela and I had the next two classes, Spanish and History, together. Those classes went almost the same as English. Fortunately I was able to sit next to Angela, who seemed to be a very nice person. After History she showed me the way to my next class.

"You can eat lunch at our table if you want to. I can introduce you to my friends," she offered. "That's really nice. I'd like to do that. I just have to let my brother know." "All right. We better get going. We are kind of late. See you at lunch?" she asked. "Yep. See you later then."

I walked faster, turned around a corner and collided with something. Because of the impact I fell butt first on the ground, again. It was the second time I fell onto my backside today.

Glancing up I saw that I ran into _someone_. And this person was clearly not amused. She was tall, her long blond locks were framing her perfect face. Okay, it didn't look perfect with her current scowl. If looks could kill, I would have died on the spot.

"How dare you. Are you blind? Next time you walk you should use your eyes!" she turned on her heals and stormed off.

I was speechless. My mind was blank. Did she think I ran into her on purpose and that I like falling on my butt? I felt my face turn tomato red. Out of both embarrassment and anger.

A boy with blonde hair came over to me and reached out his hand to help me up. "Hey I'm Mike. You are Isabella aren't you?" he asked. "Bella," I just said. "Forget Rosalie. She is always like that. Arrogant bitch. She and her friends think they own the school. Don't mind them. If you stay out of their way, you don't get in trouble," he informed me.

"Okay. I'll try to keep that in mind," I mumbled. "I have to go now." "Do you have Trigonometry too?" he asked hopefully. "Yep." "Then we should hurry. Mr. Varner doesn't like tardiness."

I didn't like Mr. Varner, because he was the only teacher, who made me stand in front of the class and introduce myself. I wish I didn't look in the direction of the back row, because this Rosalie chick sat there, glaring at me.

My face turned ten shades of red, while I tried not to stutter that much. Needless to say, that I stumbled over my feet on my way to an empty seat. I wished I could just vanish into air.

Next to me sat a girl with dirty blond hair and way too much make up. She looked more like a clown than anything. She just glanced at me said: "Lauren" and turned her attention back to her fingernails.

By now, I started to think that every girl in this school was a bitch but Angela. I wondered, how she could survive at a place like this without getting insane.

After that endless seeming lesson it was finally lunchtime. I followed the other students into the cafeteria and saw Angela and Eric sitting on a table waving in my direction.

Waving back I went to the lunch line. I turned around when I felt someone tapping my shoulder. It was Emmet. "Hey, Bells. How was school so far?" "Ehm. It was fine and yours?" I tried to sound serene. "Oh. It was great. I'm in the football team," he continued to ramble about the practice and which position he got, but when it came to any kind of sport I just listened half-hearted.

"So. Do you want to sit with me and my new friends?" "What. Eh. No thank you. I already sit over there," I looked in Angela's direction. "Okay. See you later," he took his full tray, I took mine and we separated.

"Hey," I said taking the empty chair next to Eric. "Guys this is Bella," Eric introduced me to everyone and told me his friends names. Some of them I recognized from my previous lessons like Mike, who grinned at me and Lauren, who just stared at her apple, the only thing she had on her plate.

I tried to join their conversation about a new movie, when Jessica, one of Angela's friends asked me: "Is _that _your brother?" She pointed with her finger at a table in the back of the cafeteria.

There sat my brother laughing about something a blonde boy was saying to him. I looked at the other people on his table and choked on my water. On his left side sat Rosalie her full attention towards my brother. Next to her sat a boy with bronze unruly hair. The last person was a girl with short deep black hair. The moment I looked at her she turned towards me and smiled but after Rosalie whispered something in her ears her smile disappeared. Weird.

"..Bella?" I heard Jessica's voice and tore my eyes away from her "Is this guy with short black hair your brother?" "Oh. Yes. That's Emmet." I answered.

"He's hot. No wonder they allowed him to sit with them," Lauren exclaimed. Please as if _you _would ever have a chance with him. I took another glance in their direction and noticed that the boys were all extremely athletic looking. Rosalie looked like a model because of her long blonde hair and her perfect body. The other girl was even prettier with her small features.

"You should warn him," Eric said. "They are not the nicest people to hang out. They think they are superior or something." "Eric is right. Just because Jasper and Edward are in the football team they think they're allowed to act like dorks."

I hope that's not what they think about Emmet. As if Angela could read my mind she said: "I'm sure they can be nice. They just prefer being among themselves." I don't know what I should think about them. Rosalie is a bitch that's for sure. Well, maybe they are a little arrogant. I have no fashion sense but I could tell that all of them wore expensive looking clothes.

After lunch I went with Jessica and Mike to my next class, Biology. When I entered the class I saw Emmet standing in front of our teacher grinning widely at me. He turned and sat next to the bronze haired boy.

Mr. Banner signed my slip and I looked around the class to see the only empty table next to the shorthaired girl, who sat at the table with my brother during lunch. I couldn't decipher her facial expression.

Awkwardly I sat next to her not sure what to say. She seemed to think about something, shook her head and extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Alice Cullen. And you are Emmett's sister." "Yes I'm Bella" I took her small hand but released it immediately because something weird flowed through my arm.

Maybe I offended her with that reaction, because for a millisecond she looked hurt but she covered it quickly with a frown. Maybe I was imagining things. Anyways, she averted her gaze and turned her attention towards our teacher.

I couldn't figure out her behavior one moment she seems nice and the next she acted indifferent. I wasn't able to dwell on it any longer because Mr. Banner started to explain something. During the class I occasionally glanced in Alice direction. One time she turned towards me with a questioning look.

I blushed and looked at my hands whereupon she giggled quietly. "What's your next class?" she whispered. I had to look at my schedule and couldn't suppress a moan. "P.E," was all I grumbled.

Her eyes lit up. "Great that's my next class too." Yeah, awesome. I wished I could avoid anything that has to do with physical activities. 'Pleas. Let us not do a ball game'.

Luck was not on my side today. After Biology Alice and walked to the gym, where Rosalie already waited for her. When she saw me she gave me a quick once-over, scoffed and headed into the girl's locker room.

Alice gave me an apologetically smile and ran after her friend. I was rooted to the spot. Was Rosalie mad at Alice for speaking with me?

Slowly I made my way into the gym where Coach Clapp gave me a uniform. I walked into the locker room without paying attention to the others and quickly changed into the sports clothes. The whole time I was thinking about Alice. Why was she acting so weird? I hope it doesn't have to do something with Rosalie. I think she really hates me although we didn't even have one conversation.

In the gymnasium I sat at the bench next to Lauren. "Okay. I will divide you into six teams. We are going to play volleyball," Coach Clapp announced. "Oh no," Lauren groaned. "My poor manicured fingernails." You should better fear for head and not your stupid nails, when I play volleyball. It wouldn't be the first time I injured someone while playing that stupid game.

My teammates quickly found out that I was the most unsporting person ever and covered my position as good as they could. I was playing against Rosalie's team and every time I failed she evily smirked at me.

When it was my turn to serve the volleyball I was really nervous. Mike, who was in my team tried to cheer for me, but when I finally stroke the ball I wished the earth would open and swallow me up.

I hit Rosalie pretty hard on her head. To say she was furious was an understatement. If some guy of her team didn't grab her shoulder, I think she would have ripped me into 1000 pieces.

I didn't even have the time to apologize, because she stormed off, Alice on her tracks.


	3. Chapter 3

**I am so sorry, for my late update. The last few days were very busy because I flew to Berlin, to look for a new apartment... I try to make up for that, though.**

**Thanks for those who reviewed the last chapter. It's great to know, that some of you still like this story.**

Blah, blah.. I don't own Twilight..blah..blah.

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"Sooo.. How was school?" Emmet asked on our way back home. "I saw you made some new friends." "Hmm. Yes it was.. okay, I guess. I met some nice people, but I don't consider them as friends, yet. But, what is about you? I saw you hanging out with that Rosalie chick and her infamous "popular" friends," I answered.

"Oh. Yeah. Rose," he said with a giant smile on his lips. "Oh no. No. No. No. Don't tell me you fall for _her_!" I couldn't suppress showing my distaste for her. "She is evil!" Dear lord, please don't make that happen.

"What! She is very nice and funny and not to forget, hot!" Emmet defended her. "Oh. Really? Are we talking about one and the same person? Cause last time I saw her, she was far away from being "nice" and "funny". I couldn't believe it. He must've been kidding me.

"What did she do, that you are so upset about?" he asked. "Well. On my way to Trigonometry, I accidentally bumped into her and she was really mad at me. And you know Alice. I think Rosalie tries to hold her off me," when I thought about that, I felt really bad.

I don't know why but thinking about Rosalie bashing me, and making Alice think bad of me, made me feel sick. And it was confusing the shit out of me. Why did I care what Alice thinks about me? I didn't even know her and I didn't know, if she likes me or not. She was just acting so strange.

"Okay. Bella. Not everyone knows that you are a little bit clumsy, and the students of Forks High don't know it, _yet_. So don't blame Rosalie for being a bit rude," be pulled me out of my reverie.

If he turns it this way, she doesn't even seem that bad. I better not mention, that I hit her with the volleyball pretty hard, or he would blame me for her behavior.

Fortunately I didn't have to talk about that topic any longer because Emmet pulled into our driveway.

At home Renee sat on the sofa, looking up from some fashion mag. "Hey mum, how was your interview?" I wanted to know. "I think it went pretty well, but I don't know yet. Dr. Cullen, the head of the hospital, said that he call in on Friday.

"Dr. Cullen?" Emmet asked. "Does he have two kids, who go to Forks High? Edward and Alice Cullen are both seniors. Today I hung out with them. Edward is in the football team too. Oh. I made it into the team. Tomorrow is our first real practice."

"Oh that's great. I'm happy for you. And yes I think that they are the children of Dr. Cullen. Bella, how was your first day at school? Did you make some new friends?"

"Yeah. I guess. I met that girl Angela, who seems pretty nice and I talked with some of her friends during lunch." "See. I told you that it wouldn't be so bad. I'm glad that you met some nice people," she answered happily.

"Okay. I'm al little bit tired. I'm in my room," I said, before going into my room and lying onto my bed. I couldn't rest long because my cell phone started to ring.

"Hello?" "Hey Bells! It's Rick and me," I heard Lila say. I knew it was her because only three persons call me Bells: Emmet, Rick and Lila, because the other two were boys…

"What's up Bella?" Rick asked. "Did you survive your first day at school? And how is Forks like?" "Wow, slow down. School was both horrible and okay," before they could ask more questions I told them about everything that happened at Forks High.

"I'm glad to hear that you haven't changed a bit. You are still our clunky Bella," Rick laughed. "Hey that's not funny! Because of my stupid inability to act or walk like a normal human being, I made my first enemy at school. I'm sure Rosalie is going to kill me, the next time she sees me. I fear for my live, going to school tomorrow."

"Bella, you are overreacting. Calm down. At least you have Emmet, who can protect you," Lila tried to appease me. "Oh. I'm not so sure about that. Out of all girls at our school Emmet chose _her_ to fall for." "Shut up!" Lila exclaimed. "How can he have crush on her?" "Yep. That was the exact same reaction I had, when I saw his face lit up, while talking about her."

"Just try to keep out of her way. If that Alice girl wants to be friends with you, Rosalie has to live with that. It's Alice's decision after all," Rick said. I told them about her acting weird around me, and my assumption that Rosalie might be telling her to stay away from me.

"Shit I smell something burning. I hope mum didn't mess up too bad. Wish me luck for tomorrow. If I'll survive, I'll text you. Love you. Bye," I said on my way into the kitchen.

"Mum!" I yelped, standing in front of a steaming oven. I quickly turned it off and opened every window I could reach. "Mum!" I shouted for her again. As soon as I crack opened the oven door, a cloud of steam engulfed me.

"Shit!" Meanwhile Emmet and my mother entered the smoky kitchen. "Mum, did you want to set the whole house on fire?" I asked her, coughing. "Oh no. I totally forgot the meat. I thought that I set the alarm," Renee said waving for air.

"This was absolutely the last time you tried to cook. Mum, when do you finally realize, that this," I pointed in the direction of the oven "Is forbidden territory for you."

Emmet already had the phone in his hand, probably ordering some Chinese food. By now he got used to little incidents like that. Every time our mother tried to cook or bake, everything went wrong. One time, we thought that she finally did something right. She baked some really good-looking muffins but when we tried them, we tried hard not spit them out. They tasted.. gross. Apparently my mum mixed the sugar up with salt.

"Okay," Emmet hung up the phone. "Lunch will arrive in about 40 minutes. So, Bella are you up for another match of Tekken? I want to kick your ass again." "Duh, as if. You only won the last game, because my phone rang and I didn't focus. But payback is a bitch," I answered and we made our way into the living room.

When the food arrived and our father came home, we still had no winner. "This isn't over yet," I warned him. "Whuu.. I'm scared," he laughed. I smacked him on his shoulder and went into the still stinky kitchen to set the table.

While we ate, we talked about our days. My father liked his work already and had no problem with this foul weather of Fork's. Mom and I missed the sun and Emmet didn't care.

After dinner I made my homework and went to bed early. There, I thought about everything that happened in school today. I was really glad, that I met some nice people like Angela and Eric, but I don't know if they were just nice to me, because I was the "new girl". I hope not.

And then there was Alice. I tried to make sense of her behavior. Was Rosalie pissed at her, because she was acting nice towards me? Oh. I didn't want to see Rosalie again. I'm scared of her.

The next morning went off like yesterday. I've lost track of time and had to hurry, whereas Emmet was waiting impatiently for me. Our ride to school was very silent; I wasn't in the mood to talk.

I know it's rude but on my way to History I put on my headphones and waited alone in front of the door, listening to some badass rock bands. Angela was early too, so I turned off my ipod and said "hello." After all I didn't want her to think, that I was impolite or wouldn't like her.

"Hey Bella. How are you? Did you acclimatize to our _lovely weather_ yet?" she asked. "I guess I have to get used to it. You survived it too. So I think it won't kill me."

The first two lessons passed quickly but English was horrible. I could only think about my next period "Trigonometry" and about the fact that Rosalie was in that class too.

"Hey Bella, what's wrong?" Angela suddenly asked me. "Nothing. I was just thinking about something." "You can tell me, if something is bothering you. Is it about Rosalie? Lauren told me about your P.E lesson." Ha! I knew Lauren was all gossip. "Don't dwell on it too much. I know that she can be intimidating but if you apologize and tell her that it wasn't on purpose she has to calm down," Angela tried to comfort me.

"You are right. I have to talk to her, although I am absolutely not looking forward to it." I'd rather run a marathon. And that's really saying something.

The reason I hurried to Trigonometry was that I didn't to talk to Rosalie in front of the whole class. I was lucky, because there she was, waiting, alone. Or was it bad luck, because she could kill me without any witnesses? I tended for the latter, because she gave me the evil-glare, again.

Suddenly I didn't know the reason I wanted to talk to her anymore. I just felt the urge to get the hell out of here. But my body thought otherwise and I slowly approached her.

"H-Hey Rosalie," I stammered. I couldn't look her in the eyes so I focused on my shaking hands. She didn't say anything. "Eh. I just wanted to apologize. For everything I did to you. I didn't want to bump into you and I surely didn't want to hit you with the volleyball. It was an accident ..and," I stopped my own rambling and looked the first time in her eyes.

"I'm sorry." She was still silent. To my surprise her frown turned into a small smile and she said; "It's okay I guess. Emmet already told me that you are a klutz and that you were afraid to see me again." My face turned scarlet. Why did he know that? I didn't tell him. "I'm not going to rip your head off, although I wanted to. I have to admit. Just stay out of my way okay?" It was more a rhetorical question. Instead of waiting for an answer, she walked to her friend, the one with the bronze, unruly hair.

I needed a moment to comprehend, everything she said to me. I was still alive, that means it went better than expected. I'm not sure if Rosalie just accepted my apology because of Emmet.

Trigonometry was boooring. And Lauren, who was sitting next to me, was starting to get on my nerves. If she wasn't occupied with fixing her hair or makeup, she was slobbering about Edward or whatever his name was (I tried to fade her annoying voice out, as best as I could).

In the cafeteria I told Angela about my conversation with Rosalie. "Wow. Maybe Rosalie is okay, after all. It's good that you apologized," She told me. "So your brother and Rosalie?" She asked looking in the direction of their table. "Yeah. I mean. Look at them. It's only a matter of time till they will be together," I answered.

On my way out of the cafeteria, Emmet beckoned me to come over. "Hey Bella. What's up? You have Government next too?" "Yes," I was a little bit uneasy in front of his friends. "Oh," he smacked his forehead. "This is Bella, my sister. Bella, those are Jasper and Edward. And I guess you already know Alice and Rosalie." I nodded blushing slightly. "Hey," was all I could say.

"Rosalie, Alice and I have Government too. Let's go, then," with that said we made our way to our next class. I didn't know what to say, so I just walked silently next to Alice.

After Mr. Jefferson signed our slips, Emmet sat next to Rosalie and motioned at the empty seat next to Alice. "Hey," I said sitting next to her. I still didn't figure out, if she liked me or not.

"Hey," she answered with a big smile. Okay I guess she doesn't hate me. "How do you like Forks so far? Emmet seems to like it" "It's okay," I said my most used answer. "I just miss the sun and my friends of course." "I understand you. I would miss my friends too," she said.

While she spoke I noticed her pixie-like features and her deep blue eyes. Her shoulder length dark hair looked so silky that I felt the urge to touch it. We couldn't talk much, because we had to pay attention to our teacher.

After the lesson, Emmet approached me with a guilty expression on his face. "I totally forgot, that today is football practice after school. I can't ride you home. You could ask some of your friends for a ride or you can drive with my car and pick me up after the practice.." "No. No. I can take her home. That's no problem," Alice cut him off.

"Oh. You don't have to do that. I don't want to cause any trouble," I said. "But I want to. And you are not causing any trouble. Meet me after school at the parking lot."

That's what I did. After my last lesson I saw Alice waiting in front of a shiny black Mercedes. "Wow. Alice. Is that your car?" I asked admiringly. "No. It's the one of my parents. Mine is at home," she laughed.

"Okay. Where is Edward?" I asked, knowing that he was her brother. "He has practice, silly." I mentally smacked my forehead. I knew that he was in Emmet's team.

"Come on. Get in. It's freezing," Alice opened the car. The ride home wasn't as awkward as I expected. While listening to the radio, we talked about school and our brothers. Sometimes I had to tell her to turn left or right, but Forks is small and she seemed to know the area. Unfortunately our conversation was really short, because after, it felt like 5 minutes, we arrived at my house.

"Bye Alice. Thank you for driving me home." "No problem. It was nice talking to you. See you tomorrow," she said waving to me.

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**Okay. This was my third chapter. Tell me if you liked or didn't like it. If you have advices for me, or criticism let me know. **

**Special thanks to: Aslin, Lily CullenSalvatore und UffIsBanging.**

**Bisous Lily**


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, here's the next chapter. I hope you'll like it. Finally some more Alice and Bella time :P. I hope I didn't say too much. No, I think I didn't.**

**Tell me, what you think about it. You know, reviews always make me happy.**

I don't own Twilight. But you already know that.**  
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"Hey, mom! I'm home," I shouted, as soon as I opened the front door. "Mum?" Still no reply. In search of her, I entered the kitchen and saw a note attached to the fridge: "I am at the grocery store. Be right back. Mum," was fast written on it.

Because I was bored and didn't know what to do with my time, I grabbed a bag of chips and made myself comfortable in our huge couch curled up in a blanket. Today I was going to laze around.

Nothing interesting was on TV, so I watched some reruns of "Gossip Girl". I couldn't help but notice the similarities between that Blair-chick and Rosalie. They were both full of themselves, bitchy, egoistic, "popular", rich, the list goes on.

After the first episode my mother came home carrying some heavy looking bags. Ugh. I definitely didn't want to move myself, but mum was struggling to hold the bags any longer. Okay. I needed to fight my inner "couch potato" and get up.

"Hey mum. Need any help?" I asked her. "No, honey. Stay where you are," she just put the bags on the floor, stood in front of me, shielding my view of the TV.

There she stood a few seconds, cocking her head to the side, just gazing at me. Before I could say anything she smirked and said: "That looks kind of cozy. Come on. Make some room for your old mother."

Laughing I moved to the side, letting mum sit next to me. Together we watched Gossip Girl and made fun of some of their characters.

Our laziness seemed contagious, because Emmet and even my dad joined us, so that the whole family sat in the living room watching TV. But of course, my brother and father couldn't watch that show for more than 5 minutes and switched to some sports channel.

"Dad! Why do we have to watch this stuff? It's just a bunch of sweaty guys, who throw a stupid ball into a stupid basket. What do you two see exciting about it?" "Duh, says the girls who watches shit like Gilmore Girls or whatever it is called. That's so much more tiresome. They just talk all the time."

Because I couldn't bear watching the basketball match any longer, I walked into my room to play guitar. Maybe it was the relocation, or the environment, I don't know but to compose a piece of music was so much easier here in Forks.

The chords and texts just came over me. Of course I just sang to myself. There was no way, I would ever sing in front of other people than me. No way. I would embarrass myself to death. Although, I could imagine myself playing guitar in a band, but I doubt, that Forks has a band.

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"I wish I had my own car. It sucks to be dependent on my brother. If I had enough money or a job to afford one, I would like to buy a vintage car," I told Angela during lunch.

"If you are looking for a job; my mother is looking for someone to help us in the shop," Mike, who sat next to me chimed in. Mikes parents owned the "Olympic Outfitters" store north of the town.

"Ooh that would be great," I beamed, happy to find a job that easy and fast. "Just come around next week and I show you what you'd have to do. Maybe we can hang out afterwards," he suggested. Why should I want to hang out with him? He was slimy, dim witted and Jessica apparently yearned for him.

"Okay. I'll stop by next week," I answered, knowing that I definitely won't hang out with him. "Awesome," he suddenly pecked me on the cheek. Ew! Immediately my hand wiped his disgusting saliva off of my cheek. Seriously, since when are pecks wet? I tried very hard not to gag.

I hope he didn't misinterpret my blush with affection or something like that. No. I blushed because I was really angry, but I didn't want to say any of the things I was thinking right now, out loud. I had to pull myself together. I needed the job after all.

Angela chuckled, but I think she knew that I felt really uncomfortable. And Jessica glared at me. It wasn't the evil glare that I knew from Rosalie (nobody will ever be able to hold a candle to her), so I just was just a little bit intimidated.

Fortunately the bell saved me from saying things, I might regret later. My next class was biology. I was kind of looking forward to see Alice again. It was very nice of her to offer me a ride home, yesterday and talking with her was much easier than I thought.

Because I wanted to escape Mike and his cockiness, I was quiet early. Suddenly feeling very exhausted, I closed my eyes and leaned my head against a wall.

"Hey, Bella. What's wrong?" I heard a soft voice close by. Caught off guard by the closeness of that voice I opened my eyes and looked straight into Alice blue eyes, which were filled with worry. I had to tilt my head a little, because she was a bit shorter than me.

"Uh. Just a headache. Nothing else," I mumbled. "Are you sure? You look kind of pale?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," I lied. She didn't seem convinced. I'm a bad liar after all. "Bella?" she reached out to touch my forehead. "You are sweating."

I didn't know, why I felt so sick. Did I have an upset stomach? As soon as I thought that, my stomach churned and I ran as fast as I could to the toilets. "Bella!" Alice shouted alarmed.

As soon as I reached a toilet I threw up. Yuck. At first I didn't notice that Alice was holding my hair back the whole time, but then I heard her saying some calming voices. After what felt like an eternity my stomach was empty and I wearily sunk to the ground.

"Thank you Alice, but you don't have to do that. Class started already. I don't want you to miss it because of me," and I didn't want her to see me like this. I was a mess.

"No way! I stay. Besides, I already told Tyler to let Mr. Varner know, that you are sick," she said. "Come on," she held out her hand and helped me up.

After I washed out my mouth and after splattering my face with cold water I felt a little bit better. All the while Alice was rubbing my back, making me feel comfortable and safe? Weird. Why do I feel safe? Whatever.

"Let's go outside. You need some fresh air." On the schoolyard we sat on a rock and didn't say anything. It wasn't that awkward silence that I would have suspected. We could just shut the fuck up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence.

Until the bell rang and I knew that Biology was over, I didn't realize how long we were outside. "Do you fell better? Do you think you can go to your next class?" she asked still worried. "Yes, I think I'm okay," I replied.

When Alice walked me to my next class, a lot of people watched us, visibly confused. I actually heard a girl whisper: "What is Alice doing with _her. _She isn't even a cheerleader…"

I totally forgot, that Alice was one of the most popular students of this school and probably doesn't usually talk to people like me. That was, when I compared us.

She wore a pair of perfectly fitting skinny jeans, expensive looking leather boots and a navy blue, short trench coat. She looked like those girls of the fashion magazines, my mum used to read.

However, I was wearing black skinny jeans, an oversized white "Ramones" shirt and of course my black leather jacket and my black converses. Suddenly I felt underdressed and unconfident, very unconfident.

"Eh. Here is my class. Thank you for everything," I said. "No biggy," she giggled. "Are you sure you don't want to go home?" I nodded. "Okay, then. Get well soon!" she waved and then she was gone.

The rest of the day at school wasn't that great. I still felt a little bit nauseous and couldn't focus on any of my lessons. In addition to that, I was wondering, how Alice could be so kind to me and why she was bothering with me. Somehow I could understand the reaction of the other students, when they saw us. I couldn't figure out the reason why she might like me.

After school I went straight to bed, in hopes of feeling better after a short nap. The only reason I woke up was my mum who brought me a steaming cup of tea. "Hey, honey. How are you feeling? It's already eight am. You slept for hours," she asked. "I'm better now, thanks."

Because I didn't want to spend the whole day in my bed and because I felt a lot better, I decided to go to my brother's room to look what he was doing. "Hey, sis. Felling better, huh? You don't look like a living corpse anymore," he grinned looking up from his notebook.

"Thanks. What are you doing?" I asked sitting on the edge of his bed. "I'm just playing WOW." "Oh not again. I thought you got-off from that game. Don't say you have a relapse," I groaned, knowing how obsessed he was with this game.

"No. I promise, I'm not going to play it for 24/7 again. Oh. I saw that Newton-guy kissing you in the cafeteria. So you guys date ore what?" he asked amused. "WHAT?" my face turned deep red. "Are you kidding me? Ew. That idiot just pecked my cheek and I didn't like it at all," I couldn't believe that he asked me if I was dating _Mike_. "Hey. Calm down. I was just teasing you," he defended himself.

"Okay. Hey. Your cell is ringing. Don't you want to answer it?" I asked. "Yeah. Could you get it, please," his full attention was on the game.

"Bella here." "Oh. Bella. It's Edward. I wanted to talk with Emmet. Hold on a sec," I heard Edward talking with someone. "Alice asks, if you are feeling better." "Yes. I am so much better since school. Tell her thanks," I said.

"Who's it?" Emmet wanted to know. "It's Edward," I whispered back. "Okay. Bye Edward," I gave the cell to my brother and walked downstairs to eat something. My growling stomach reminded me, that everything I ate today was thrown up.

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"You aren't sick anymore? I heard that you couldn't attend Biology yesterday," Angela asked standing in front of me in the lunch line. I don't know why or from whom she got that information, but I guess I have to live with the fact, that in a small town like Forks the word gets around really fast.

"Ew. You are sick?" Jessica asked stepping away from me. "No, I'm not," but I don't mind you keeping your distance from me. I'm sick of smelling your intrusive perfume, whenever you are around.

"Well, I was planning on going to Port Angeles to buy some new clothes. Are you in?" Angela asked. "Of course, you can count on us, right Lauren?" Jessica smiled. "I guess I need some new outfits to get Mike's attention."

Oh. No. Not again. Can she think of anything different than Mike? Of course not, what stupid question was that?

"Oh, Bella, it's great to see, that you are feeling better," I heard Alice from behind me. I was trying hard not to look too happy about the fact that she kept speaking with me. But I just had to smile, seeing Jessica's and Lauren's priceless, dumb facial expressions, when they saw who was talking with me.

"Hey, Alice. I feel much better," I turned around to face her. Angela, the only one, who wasn't speechless or surprised that Alice spoke to me said: "Hey, everyone! It's our turn."

We grabbed something to eat and walked to our table. "See you later," Alice smiled and went in the opposite direction to her friends.

In the middle of the Government lesson, I felt my cell vibrate in my pants pockets. Unnoticed by the teacher I put it in my lap and saw that I received a text message from Angela: _Hey Bella. You come shopping with us? x Ange _

"Ooh. Someone got a secret admirer?" Alice, who saw me looking at my cell asked amused. I blushed. "No. It's just Angela. She wants to know if I want to go shopping with her tomorrow after school," I whispered.

"Shopping? You guys are planning a shopping trip?" Alice asked excited? Wait a minute, why was she excited? "No. I don't know if I'm going. Shopping is just not my thing," and I didn't want to listen to Jessica and Lauren gossiping around everyone, not only during school time but also in my free time. No thanks. Besides I never liked shopping anyway.

"What?" Alice looked shocked, "How can you not like going shopping? And I thought that I might like you," she smiled. She might like me, huh? "Can I come with you? Oh please. I haven't been shopping since," she paused to think, "a week. The last time I was on a shopping spree was last week. I definitely need go. Pleeease," she gazed at me with her large eyes and I couldn't help but think, how adorable she looked.

"Okay. I will ask Angela," I gave up. How could I resist that pout of her? _Yeah. I'm in. Can Alice come too? _

_Yes of course she can. Jessica and Lauren won't believe it, when I tell them she's coming with us._

"You can come with us," I tried to sound happy. I wasn't looking forward to spend my day in a mall, but maybe it could be fun with Alice?

When she exclaimed in delight, the whole class looked curiously at her. She blushed and looked at her table, still smiling. Wow I didn't think that I would ever see her blushing. I thought it was my thing.

After the lesson she surprised me by hugging me. I stiffly hugged her back. "It will be awesome. You'll see shopping is the best thing, ever." I doubted that, but answered nonetheless "Yeah. I hope so. Eh. Could I drive with you? I really don't want to spend more time than needed with Lauren and Jessica," and I like your presence, I thought.

"Sure. I don't like driving alone, anyway."

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**In this chapter I hid a quote of a cult movie. 100 little golden stars, if you know which movie it is :P.**

**Next chapter is about Alice' and Bella's shopping tour. Yay!**

**Bisous Lily  
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	5. Chapter 5

**First of all, I want to apologize for that awful late update. I had some trouble with charging my macbook and because a new power adapter costs more than 100 dollar (here in Germany), I ordered it on ebay and it came today. Okay, I stop babbling.**

**And thank you again for all of the reviews I got. It's great that you took your time to give me a feedback.**

Here is chapter five:

I still don't own Twilight.

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"I heard you and Alice are planning a Trip to Port Angeles tomorrow... to go shopping?" Emmet giggled on our ride home, after school. "When she told me about it. I couldn't help but laugh. Sorry Bells but the idea of you going voluntarily on a shopping spree is just hilarious."

"Yeah. I know. I can't believe it myself. I guess I just wanted to spend more time with my prospective new friends. So you don't think it's weird that Alice wants to join us? I mean, why should she want to hang out with _me_, of all people?" I asked him the question that was bothering me all day long. He was part of her "clique" so he might know the reason.

"Why shouldn't she? You can be nice, sometimes after all," he teased me. "You know what I mean. Your friends have the reputation of sticking to themselves and just to interfere with "popular" people: the cheerleaders, foot ballplayers and the rich and beautiful, you know? And because you are Edward's and Jasper's teammate you fit in perfectly, but _me_?" I stated.

"Come on Bella. They are not that superficial. Let alone Alice. I think she might like you," he tried to reassure me. Why did I have to blush because of his last statement? I really have to learn to control my blood flow. Fortunately my brother couldn't see my reddish cheeks, because he had to focus on the road.

"When was the last time you went shopping, anyway?" he wanted to know. "You have three pairs of jeans, maybe about five shirts and... yeah that's it. I don't know the last time you wore other shoes than your converses and do you even have another jacket than this old thing?" he pointed to my favorite leather jacket.

"Hey!" I retorted, punching his shoulder. "Even I have more clothes than you and I am a guy after all. Mum will be thrilled to hear that you are going to expand your wardrobe. I bet she gives you some extra cash for new clothes."

"Stop. You talk about me, as if I would walk around like, I don't know, a Neanderthal or something. And I love my clothes and especially my converses and my leather jacket, thank you very much," I huffed folding my arms. "And I thought you guys weren't superficial."

At home I decided, that I didn't want to order food today. Instead I wanted to cook a nice supper. But although mum was grocery shopping yesterday, I didn't find most of the ingredients I needed. So I went for spaghetti with tomato sauce.

When I was done I called my family together. I know it sounds lame but I love eating with the whole family. "Guess what. Bella is going to Port Angeles tomorrow, to go shopping," Emmet laughed. "No way. That's great Bella. Are you going with Angela?" she asked me. "Yep and with Alice, Jessica and Lauren," I answered.

Although I went to Forks High for just four days Jessica and Lauren were starting to be a pain in my ass already. Especially Lauren. If she mentions her fucking fingernails one more time, I swear I'm going to explode.

My dad just gave me a sympathetic look. He was probably the only one who understood me. We have a lot in common.

"It's wonderful that the two of you found friends that easily. You see. It isn't that bad here in Forks is isn't it?" our mother beamed. "Mom, you were the one who thought moving in a small town was 'going to be boring'" I quoted her.

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"Isn't it exciting, that Alice is actually coming with us," Jessica's voice got me out of my stupor. "You bet! After today we're going to be BFFs and we will be sitting at their table for the rest of the year. Maybe Edward and I will be a couple after all," Lauren gushed.

I tried hard not to roll my eyes. Were they kidding me or were they really that stupid? I bet they will kiss Alice's ass just to be part of their group. Just great! Should I warn Alice? Angela was the only one who didn't freak out. Minute to minute I thought this trip wasn't such a good idea after all.

School was over pretty fast and I walked to the parking lot, where Alice was already waiting in front of the black Mercedes, bouncing on her feet. When she saw me a big smile spread on her face and she practically pushed me into the car.

"What took you so long? I've been waiting for hours," she asked me, revving up the engine. "So. You are really not the shopping type, huh? Your brother had to laugh so hard, when I told him what we are going to do in Port Angeles, the teacher wanted to kick him out," Alice laughed. "No, not really. I never liked it. Obviously I am not the most fashionable person," I answered.

"I like your style. It's unique. You don't look like everyone else," Alice made my cheeks burn again. I turned my head to the window so she couldn't see my reddish face. Seriously that blushing-thing has to stop. Ugh! "T-thanks," I stuttered.

Only now, looking out of the window, I realized how fast she drove. The trees were passing by very fast. Alarmed I peeked at the speedometer. Holy shit. "Fuck, Alice do you know how fast you drive! You drive at least twice as fast as the speed limit allows," I exclaimed. Alice just laughed at my facial expression and slowed down a little bit.

Wow her thrilling, bells like laughter was the most beautiful thing I ever heard. "Look. We are there," she said, parking in front of a small mall. Confused I looked at my watch. "I thought Angela said the drive takes more than an hour." But then I remembered her insanely fast driving skills. "Okay. Well, what should we do now? The others won't be here the next thirty minutes," I wanted to know.

"Since we are at a mall, and you've never been here before, I show you my favorite stores," she said linking arms with me. Startled by this I couldn't think of anything to say and just followed her. For someone that small she could walk pretty fast and I was afraid to stumble over my feet.

The mall was bigger than I visualized and full people. The first store Alice headed to, was a little shop with some French name, I couldn't pronounce. As soon as we entered, an assistant, a very gay looking young man, ran to us giving Alice a kiss on her right cheek and a kiss on her left.

"Oh Alice. Nice to see you again. And who's your new friend. I've never seen her before," he spoke with a thick French accent. "That's Bella. She just moved to Forks. And that is Jerome. The owner of this shop," Alice introduced us. I gave him a shy smile and looked around.

Everything I saw screamed for Alice. I went to a beautiful looking blue dress, sliding my fingers gently over the silky surface. Holy... I thought when I saw how much it cost. 200 dollar for one dress? I knew that Alice must have been loaded but she seemed to be a regular guest at this designer store. "Bella, I think we should go. See if the others arrived yet," Alice suddenly stood next to me. "Oh right, of course."

We waited about five minutes till we saw Angela's car parking next to Alice'. As soon as they got out of the car, Jessica and Lauren both embraced me, as if we were best friends. I didn't like that. I would probably stink like their disgusting perfume all day long. Ew.

"Where do you want to go first?" Alice asked them. "What about that store "Twilight" that opened recently," Angela suggested. "Yes. It's great they have some nice clothes," Alice agreed. "Ooh do you buy all of your clothes from Twilight? Then we have to go there. Your dresses are absolutely gorgeous, right Jessica," Lauren spoke in a squeaky voice.

Shit! I forgot to forewarn Alice against Lauren and Jessica and that they might try to kiss her ass in hopes of joining her "clique". I made a mental note to speak to her before those two crawlers put her to rout. I feared that my foreboding became reality.

On our way to the store Lauren and Jessica already started to talk Alice' ear off. They asked her a lot of questions but mostly about her brother and her friends, although Angela did her best to change the topic. I really didn't understand how Angela could endure the presence of them all the time. She is far too nice and caring to be friends with them.

I tried to focus on everything but the interrogation of Alice but I failed. I felt sorry for her. In her stead I would have lost my temper long ago and told them to fuck off, but sweet nice Alice just smiled and answered almost every stupid question.

Finally we arrived the store and Lauren and Jessica paid more attention to the clothes. I took the opportunity and dragged Alice to the jeans section. "I'm so sorry for Jessica and Lauren. I should have warned you. I understand if you want to go home n-," she cut me off. "Don't be silly! It's okay. This shop is big enough, we can just try to avoid them", she giggled.

That's what we did. Coincidentally we never looked for clothes, where they were. Angela seemed to understand the reason and tried to distract Lauren and Jessica, who were too dense to even notice that we weren't around. Fortunately they were too occupied squeezing they're boobs into way too tight tops and dresses.

"Hey, Bella. What do you think about this?" Alice showed me a plain grey cardigan. "It fits to almost everything. I think it might suit you very well," she held it in front of me, cocking her head from side to side. "Yes. That will work. You need to try it on later, though." "Okay, but don't you want to look for your own clothes?" I asked her. "Yes but now it's more fun to choose something for you."

All the time she went through clothes racks, put something out, held it on me, raised an eyebrow for a second and either nodded or shook her head. She gave me all the clothes she considered and soon enough I had a hard time carrying everything.

"Er, Alice? Don't you think I have enough clothes?" I asked her when she was about to give me another jeans. I was afraid of pulling her out of the Alice-shopping-mode. "Fine, just one more, please," she pouted. Oh no, not again. "Okay," I gave up. Her eyes lit up and she shoved me to the changing rooms. Groaning I dropped all the clothes on a stool. Why did I agree on this shopping-hell again? Oh right, because of Alice.

"Please hurry up. I want to see everything on you," I heard her voice from behind the curtain. "Yes, sir," I mumbled and started changing. I felt like Alice' personal human Barbie doll. The more clothes I tried on, the more I suffered and the more Alice seemed to enjoy it.

"You are evil," I stated, while wearing the umpteenth outfit. Alice smile just got bigger, if that was even possible. By now Angela, Jessica and Lauren were finished and examined together with Alice everything I tried on. I didn't like all the attention. Not one tiny bit. And I didn't give a shit about the opinion of Jessica and Lauren.

When I finally had no piece left, I felt like I just finished a never-ending marathon. I was exhausted to say the least.

I –well, rather Alice and the others – decided to buy three t-shirts, two shirts, three pants, two cardigans and one hoodie. Thank god, that the clothes were way cheaper than the ones in the French designer store. And like Emmet predicted, mum gave me some money before I went to school.

I had to admit that Alice has a good taste and just chose things I was comfortable to wear and that fitted my style. She didn't look for fancy looking dresses or pink lacy things.

The others didn't go away empty-handed too and we called our shopping trip 'successfully finished'. "I'm done," Angela said. "I just want to go home and rest." "Yeah, me too. My feet are hurting," Jessica complained. "And I can't carry my bags any longer," Lauren whined. "Shall we go home then?" Angela asked.

"Ye-," I wanted to agree but Alice cut me off. "No, Bella and I stay a little bit longer. We need to find some boots first, but you can go if you want," Alice said, as if we didn't spend about three hours in this mall. "It looks like I am stuck here then," I muttered.

Angela gave me a sympathetic smile and we said our goodbyes. Of course, Laura and Jessica couldn't stop going on my nerves. Both of them hugged Alice, as if they were friends since kindergarten.

"Bye, Al. It was great with you. What are you doing this weekend? We must totally go to this club, here in Port Angeles it's like super cool," Lauren suggested. "Yeah, Here I give you my number so we can hang out," Jessica said, scribbling her number on a piece of paper.

Puzzled Alice took her number. "Eh, I don't know yet. I promised Jasper to meet him." "Ooh, so you and Jasper," Jessica grinned. "No. We're just friends," Alice replied. "Let's go. I don't want to get home late," Angela saved Alice from further harm.

When they were out of sight my stomach growled really loud. "I guess we have to grab some food. We don't have to continue our shopping spree. I just couldn't stand being around them any longer. Angela is nice, though," Alice sighed.

I would have never guessed, that she would say that out loud but I don't blame her. "Do you want to eat some burgers?" she asked me standing in front of a fast food joint. "Yep. Definitely," I answered, already entering.

Damn, I was really hungry, because of that I ordered the biggest burger, some fries and a coke. When I thought that was much I didn't see, what Alice wanted to eat. She chose nuggets, the same burger, more fries and a milkshake.

"You sure you can eat all of _that_?" I pointed on the mountain of food on her trail. "Of course, I haven't eaten for hours. I bet I am faster than you," she challenged me. " I doubt that. This is at least twice of your own weight," I laughed.

"Okay let's bet. The one who finishes last… has to follow the instructions the winner gives. One day long," she smirked. Okay. The bet was unfair, because I knew I would win. There was no way she could ever eat that much and faster than me.

"Okay," we shook hands and started to eat. While stuffing my face with fries I glanced at Alice. I almost choked on the fries because of what I saw. She was eating her nuggets like… I can't even describe it, she ate everything really really fast. And I had to speed up myself to not get left behind.

In the end Alice won. I still had five fries left, when she leaned back and rubbed her stomach. All I could do was gape. How did she do that? "You should definitely challenge Emmet. It would be fun watching _you_ kicking his big ass," I giggled.

We decided to drive home, because I didn't want to look for boots ore anything else. "Next time, I'll take you to a real mall and we'll spend the whole day there," Alice shocked me while she got into the car. "Oh no Alice. I have enough clothes and that was the longest I stayed at a mall anyway," I protested.

"You know that I won our little bet? And if I decide to go shopping with you, you'll have to follow. Don't you like your new clothes, at all?" she asked me. "Sure. I have to admit that you did a great job as my personal-fashion-assistant." I confessed. She seemed to like that idea and showed me her perfect smile. Shit! I hope I didn't put horrible ideas in her head.

When we arrived at my home, it was already dark outside. "Bye, Bella. It was so much fun. Here I give you my cell number. Call me." "Yeah. I will," I said grabbing my bags out of the trunk. "Bye!"

Expectedly my mum was thrilled to see, how much I bought and wanted me to show her everything. Ooh. The hospital called her today, to say that she got the job.

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**I hope I am able to update the next chapter within the next three days.**

**Bisous Lily**


	6. Chapter 6

**First of all thanks again for your reviews I appreaciate every single one of them. Yeah, I don't know what else to say, so here you have the next chapter:**

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

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Feeling drained because of the trip to Port Angeles, not feeling capable to do anything and pigged out, I just fell into my bed. To mark the occasion of mum's new job, dad made the only dish he can cook, fish. Although I am not a fan of fish, I have to admit that Charlie's always tastes good. And I ate a lot, even though I already ate at the mall.

I am really glad that my mum got the job at this hospital, because she can get bored pretty easily. She can't just stay at home and do nothing, unlike me. I have no problem with lying on the couch and watching TV or reading a book all day long. Till today she was busy decorating and furnishing our new house so she wasn't that bored.

Lying on my bed I thought back of everything that happened today. Well, mainly I was thinking about what happened at the mall. Although I hate going shopping, I have to admit that it wasn't that bad. I somehow enjoyed being around Alice. I didn't know how she did it but I always feel comfortable in her presence. Her lively and friendly personality just amazed me and made me smile inwardly.

I didn't know how long I was lying in my bed but I was brought back to reality, when my dim-witted brother burst open my door. "Emmet! How many times must I tell you to KNOCK before entering my room? Not storming in," I snapped at my brother, who almost gave me a heart attack.

"Chill out, man," he laughed, jumping in my bed next to me, nearly sending me to the floor. "Emmet!" I shrieked. "I'm not in the mood for your annoying games." The fact that he didn't even try to show any regret and the fact that he just smiled goofily at me made me angrier.

Taking advantage of his careless position I grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it in his face with all the strength I could muster. For a few seconds he just stared at me dumbfounded.

As I was about to praise my own strike, when a mischievous smirk spread across his face. Knowing this smirk I jumped out of my bed trying to reach the door as soon as possible, but as soon as I touched my doorknob, I felt his strong hands on my shoulder. And I knew I was trapped. Shit.

With one swift motion I landed back on my bed. "Emmet, please. Just let me go," I pleaded. But he showed no mercy, grabbed two pillows to throw them, fortunately just with half his strength, in my direction.

"Truce! Truce!" I gasped, covering my face with my arms. "Fair enough. Now we are even," my brother laughed. I knew that if we started a pillow fight he would have kicked my ass. He is far too strong.

"Well, the reason I came is that Edward just called. He and some friends want to go bowling this evening," he informed me. "And you are telling me that because…?" I asked him. Why did he want me to know, what he and his friends are going to do?

"Well, I wanted to know if you want to come with us." "Are you shitting me? I will definitely not come bowling with you. First of all bowling? Seriously. Who wants to go bowling on a Friday night? Does Forks even hold a bowling centre? You should know me better. I am a hundred percent positive that a bowling ball in my hands is a deathly weapon," I replied not believing that he even asked me.

"Come on Bells. It will be fun and you will meet new people," he tried to convince me. "No way!" I stayed stubborn. "Fine. But you call Alice and tell her yourself. She wanted me to persuade you so that you would come with us. And I don't want to tell her that you are too pig-headed to come."

"If need to be," I groaned and I got out the slip of paper where Alice wrote her cell number. Reluctantly I dialed her number. "Hello?" I heard Alice soft voice. "Hi. It's me, Bella." "Hi Bella. What's up? Are you calling to let me know that you will come with us?" she asked me. "Eh, no. I wanted to tell you that I would rather stay at home," I mumbled into the phone.

"Why? Don't you want to spend time with me? Is it that?" "No no no. Of course not. I don't like anything involving physical activities. And bowling is one of the least things I enjoy to do. Don't you remember my first PE lesson, where I accidentally shot volleyball at Rosalie's head? I don't want to know what happens when I just touch a 15 pound bowling ball," I huffed.

"Oh, yes I remember. Promise to never mention that in Rose's presence," she giggled. "Anyway, you have to come. Please. If the bowling thing is the only reason you want to stay at home, you don't have to play it. Just accompany us. Please! It will be fun. And I don't want you to stay at home, alone on a Friday night."

"If you don't want to go because of me-," but I cut her off. "No it's not because of you. Believe me. I just hate every kind of sport," I tried to assure her. "Then come with me. I told you before, that you don't have to play if you don't want to, please," she begged and I could literally see her pouting.

"Ugh. Fine. I'm in. But you owe me," I gave up. "Yippy," Alice squealed and I had to hold the earpiece away from my ear. "We'll meet in half an hour. And don't you dare not showing up," she warned me. "Yep. See you later." "Bye, Bella." "Bye Alice."

Shit, shit, shit! Why did I say yes, again? How does she do that? Why did I have to give in just because she persuades me? This girl was something else. I hate shopping; she coaxed me to take her to the mall. I hate bowling and she talked me into going bowling with her. That isn't normal.

When I looked at my watch, it was 7:45 pm I heard a knock on my door. "Come in." Wow. Emmet actually listened to me and knocked. "So, what did Alice say?" he asked me. "Err, I'm kind of coming with you," I mumbled. "What? How did she convinced you?" he laughed shaking his head. If I knew… "Get ready then, I want to take off in about 15 minutes," he said.

"I am ready," I replied. "Do you really want to go wearing that?" he asked looking at my clothes. "What? Pfft. Whatever, I change," I huffed and pushed him out of my room. Remembering with whom I am going to spend the evening/night; with Emmet's friends, who all appeared and dressed like models, I decided to put on some of my new clothes.

A pair of stonewashed skinnies, a grey v-neck tee and a black and white plaid shirt seemed to be okay. I didn't see the difference between my old clothes and the new ones but if Alice chose them, they have to be okay. And I liked my old clothes hence this outfit wasn't that bad.

"Mum, I'm going with Emmet to this bowling thing," I let Renee know, who was watching a chick flick on TV. "Okay have fun!" She didn't even wonder why I was going with them.

"Why did I agree to this again? I don't even know your friends. And I will definitely fit in," I groaned on our way to that fucking bowling thing. "Relax Bella. You'll see, Edward and Jasper are cool," Emmet tried to calm me, but failed. Just as I was about to reply my cell vibrated. Looking at the display I saw that Alice texted me: _Don't you dare staying at home _She wrote, probably knowing that I would rather drive back.

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"I think they're inside, already. Come on," he pushed me to the entrance. "You sure, you don't want to play?" Emmet wanted to know, trying on some bowling shoes. "Yes, I don't want to. I don't want to hurt myself or anyone surrounding me, with that stupid bowling ball. And I don't want to embarrass myself," I murmured.

Suddenly, someone embraced me. Confused I saw that Alice was hugging me, sending a wave of convenience through my body. Awkwardly I hugged her back. "Hi, Alice. Long time no see, huh?" I said. "Yep. Way too long," she giggled. When I noticed that I was still holding her I blushed and quickly let her go.

"Be glad that you showed up, otherwise I would have been mad at you. And you don't want me to be mad," she giggled and shoved me to a large booth opposite to one of eight bowling alleys.

There I saw Jasper and Edward already waiting, chatting with two girls I didn't know. Alice sat next to Jasper and patted the seat on her right, signaling me to sit next her. When I sat down I quickly said "hi" and hoped, that I wouldn't do something embarrassing this evening. "Hi Bella," Jasper greeted me. Edward showed me a crooked grin and the two girls just nodded in my direction and turned they're attention back to Edward and Jasper.

"Those are Victoria and Tanya, they're hitting on Ed and Jazz since… I don't know but I doubt that my brother wants something serious," Alice whispered into my ear. "I don't know where Rose is but she should be here soon too." Oh crap! I almost forgot about her. The last time I saw her she told me to stay away from her and now I would spend the evening with her. Great.

"You look great in your new clothes, by the way," Alice said, making my face turn red. Stupid me, still blushing at every given opportunity. "Thanks, you look good too," I murmured. Alice just giggled and sipped at her drink.

"Hey, there are Rose and Emmet. I think we can start our bowling game," Jasper said, looking in they're direction. My brother and Rosalie walking to our table and were holding hands, so they were official now. Whew, that went fast, but it was no surprise at all. It was just a matter of time, till they were dating.

"And you don't want to bowl with us? It's fun," Alice wanted to know. Oh no I will not give in this time. "Nope. I'll just watch you guys." "Fine." Alice folded her arms. Cute. But I stayed strong.

"Hello Bella," Rosalie said in her icy voice. "Eh, hi Rosalie," I still was afraid to look right into her eyes. Fortunately she ended our conversation right there and walked to the bowling alley, Emmet on her tracks.

While the others were bowling, I ordered a coke and watched them. At first Emmet wasn't that good, probably because we never went bowling in Phoenix, but after a while he had the hang of it. The others were really good, except for those two chicks, whose names I forgot. They were giggling all the time and wanted Edward and Jasper to _show _them how to bowl. They kind of reminded me of Jessica and how she hits on Mike Newton all the time.

Mostly I was watching Alice. I admired her graceful movements; even with the heavy bowling ball she seemed to have no problems. One time she caught me looking at her and winked at me. I could feel my face heat up and tried to hide it behind my hair.

Sometimes, when it wasn't Alice's turn she sat next to me and we talked about everything and nothing. An hour or a little later, they stopped bowling and sat by me. Rosalie completely avoided looking and talking to me. I didn't mind though. I was doing the same. I didn't want her to be angry with me again.

Actually, I was having fun. Emmet was right; Jasper and Edward were nice and not as cocky as I imagined them. Maybe a little bit but at least they weren't acting as if I wasn't there. I could tell that Jasper was more the gentleman and Edward more the _player_.

However when Jasper laid one arm around Alice my good mood disappeared. I didn't know why seeing him touching Alice made me feel that way. Fortunately nobody seemed to notice my mood swing. I was relieved, when we finally got home.

I was very tired and shortly after I settled into my bed, I fell asleep.

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Because I slept in late, I had breakfast long after my family ate. My mum was in the garden, Emmet was going for a jog and my father sat in front of the TV.

Before I could decide what to do, the phone rang. It was Jack. "Hi Bella. How are you? We haven't spoken to each other for ages." "Hey! We talked two days ago," I laughed. "See. A looong time ago. So tell me, what happened in Forks the last two days?" he wanted to know. "I don't know. Not much. Yesterday I have been on a shopping spree. And before you say anything. Yes I still hate going shopping. And I don't know why I agreed to do that."

"And with whom did you go to the mall?" he asked. "I went with Angela, Lauren, Jessica and Alice," I told him. "Sounds to me that you are making friends, Bella," he giggled. What was so funny? "Yeah, whatever. I spent almost three hours carrying clothes Alice chose for me and then I had to try them on and show her every piece. It was so exhausting," I groaned remembering the try on session.

"After dinner I went together with Emmet and his friends bowling," I continued. "What? First shopping now bowling. Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" he laughed. I had to laugh too, because he was right. That was unlike me.

"I know. But I can assure you that I didn't touch one bowling ball. I have to admit that it wasn't half as bad as I expected." After another thirty minutes of talking about nothing in particular, we bid farewell and I went into my room to read Wuthering Heights the umpteenths time.

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**PS: Because you guys asked for more Bella and Alice time, I rewrote the next chapter, just for you :P**


	7. Chapter 7

**Actually, I wanted to post this chapter yesterday, ,but the "Oktoberfest" in Munich was killing me. Seriously. I still have a ringing in my ears. Anyway, thank you for your reviews, I love them; this can not be mentioned enough :P. **

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While lying on my cozy bed, reading my favorite novel Wuthering Heights, the ringing sound of my cell phone made me jump slightly. "Yeah?" I grumbled, al little bit annoyed at being disrupted. "Bella? What's wrong?" Alice asked me with a concerned sounding voice. "Hi Alice. Yes I'm fine," I cleared my throat. "You sure? Yesterday you seemed to be a little…out of it. You are not sick again are you?" she asked me, worriedly.

Fuck. Why did she have to be so observant? Apparently I didn't hide my weird bad mood as well as I thought. "No. Alice I'm fine, I swear. I was just a little tired. That's all. Really," I tried to reassure her. "You would tell me, if something is bothering you, right?" she said quietly.

"Yes," I lied. I didn't even know myself why I was acting strange, when Jasper laid an arm around her. If I didn't know better I'd say that I was acting very…jealously. But that couldn't be or could it? Wasn't it a normal thing to do among friends? I mean Jasper and Alice were friends for so long. Yeah it was probably just a friendly gesture, I tried to reassure myself.

"Helloo, Bella! You still there?" Alice brought me out of my reverie. "Eh, yes. What did you just say?" Shit. I was acting conspicuously again. "You are my friend, right? So you have to tell me what's on your mind. Please," she stuck to her guns. What should I tell her now?

"Hmm, maybe you were right and I'm going to get sick, I don't know," I hated lying to her. "Shall I come over?" I heard her ask. "No, no. It's okay. You don't have to do that. See you tomorrow, at school?" "Yeah, but-" but I interrupted her. "Okay bye, then," before she could say anything I hung up. I know it was rude but I couldn't help myself. I was too confused and couldn't handle talking to her right now.

To distract myself I started doing my homework, which didn't take too long. Sadly. So I went to my computer and wrote an email to my friends, which didn't take long either. Therefore I spent the rest of the day playing my guitar and listening to music. I know boring but I didn't know what else to do.

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I was just on the way to my first period, English, when I heard someone running after me. "Bella, wait!" Alice breathed heavily, catching up with me. Somewhat nervous I turned around to see her looking uneasily at me. I didn't know what to do or what to say, which was unusual. Normally it was very easy to have a conversation with her.

"Hey, Alice what's up?" I asked her quietly, while we walked somewhere more secluded. "That's what I wanted to ask _you_. Why are you acting so weird? Did I say or do something to upset you? I know you said no, but it's bothering me," her huge blue eyes were filled with sadness. Seeing her sad made me sad and I had the sudden urge to hold her close and comfort her.

That's what I did. I wrapped my arms around her petite form, my body acting on it's own. As she responded the hug, pulling me closer and nestling her head on my shoulder, I felt a sudden wave of pleasure running through my body. There it was again this weird feeling she always seemed to awake inside of me.

After a while, we let go of each other and I immediately missed the closeness. "All good? I'm sorry for giving you the impression that I might be mad at you. I'm not," I tried to reassure her. "Okay, but I think we missed our classes," she smiled and I could see the normal, happy Alice turning back.

"The actual reason I called you yesterday was to ask what plan to do next weekend," she grinned. "Eh, nothing. What are you up to?" I asked suspicious. Well, Edward throws a party on Friday. We celebrate his 18th birthday. I guess it will be pretty huge. He plans to invite a lot of people. Soo, are you coming?" "I don't know, I know none of your friends and," but Alice stopped me. "You know Jasper, Rose, Edward and me and he can invite Angela too." "Okay, but you have to help me with a present for him," I conceded.

"Great. Whoops, English started twenty minutes ago, what did we do all the time?" Alice suddenly realized. I was surprised how time flies. "Yeah, I guess now that we missed almost half of the lesson anyway, we can skip our first lesson," she suggested mischievously. So we spent the next twenty minutes talking about Edward's birthday party.

My next class was Spanish, where Angela greeted me worried. During the lesson I tried to tell Angela, the reason of my previous absence of the first period, without being noticed from Ms Smith. I told her that I had to settle something out with Alice, of course sweet Angela didn't pressed further and didn't ask for the reason.

When I told her about Edward's bash, she assured me that if we would get an invitation that she would come with me. History was boring and Trigonometry was exhausting. Apparently Lauren was dumb as shit and needed my help for almost every exercise.

Apparently every student of Forks High found out about the party till—lunch break. Jessica and Lauren were too excited and wanted to go to this party desperately. They tried to woo me to ask Edward if they could come too till my ears bled. They didn't even listen to me, when I told them that I was not befriended with him.

Fortunately Angela didn't tell them that Alice already invited Angela and me, because I had no doubt that they would _attack _and keep babbling till Alice would capitulate. Good that I my next class was Biology and I could warn Alice and beg her not to invite the two nags.

Alice just laughed when I told her about my worries. "You don't have to worry about me, but my brother. Now that the whole school knows about his party a lot of people kiss his ass the get an invitation. It's funny, actually to see what some of them would do," she shook her head.

Biology went by fast thanks to Alice, but even she couldn't change the fact that I loathed PE. That lesson was horrible, not as bad as my first PE lesson but still awful. We played badminton and I stumbled over my feet umpteenth times and twisted my ankle twice till coach Clapp showed mercy and sent me to the bench for the rest of the lesson.

Alice seemed worried but she was in the middle of a match and couldn't do anything. I wish I could spend every time I was in the gym on the bench. That way I was neither a danger to other students nor to myself.

After the lesson Alice sheepishly told me that Edward had a theme-party. "Alice, what theme?" I asked anxious. "Eh, Hawaiian beach party," she smirked. "Oh, no don't tell me we have to wear skimpy bikinis and skimpy skirts?" I feared the worst. "No, it doesn't have to be skimpy necessarily," she giggled. "I'm sorry, then I can't come, I don't have any bathing suit or whatsoever," I lied. I had an old bikini somewhere but I didn't want to wear it, not at all.

"Well, then…," she showed an evil grin. "I remember that you lost a bet the other day. And unless I am mistaken, you have to do whatever I want one day long," she smirked. Oh no what comes next? I just hoped she didn't want to settle the bat this Friday.

"Since I can not accept you ditching this celebration, because you have no bikini and since I know how much you love going shopping, I'll take you to Port Angeles again, and afterwards we…you know what, just wait and see," there was that mischievous glint again.

"You don't have to settle the bat for that, I voluntarily come with you," I covered my mouth before more stupid things could come out of it. Stupid me.

"If you say so," she giggled. "Look, Emmet is already waiting for you. See you tomorrow," she hugged me and sped to her car. My brother couldn't wait to get home, all the way complaining about people who begged for an invitation to his friend's party on the weekend.

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"Okay, we need bikinis, obviously, and a present for Edward if we have enough time left, we con look for other things," Alice said dragging me through the mall. "Our first stop will be this awesome lingerie store, which has a decent selection of swim wear," she continued.

When we arrived the store she ordered me to sit on a chair and just wait for her to choose the bikinis. I didn't mind because I thought she did a great job last time and would find something suitable. Twenty minutes or so later she called me to the changing rooms, gave me about ten bikinis and pushed me in a free changing room.

"Please hurry up and I want to see every one on you," she demanded. I blushed about five shades of red, just thinking about her seeing me in nothing but those scrap of clothes. And when I thought Alice would chose "suitable" bikinis I was wrong.

My first choice was a dark blue triangle bikini, which didn't look as skimpy as the others. As I tried it on, I horrified realized that it showed half of my ass and barely covered my breasts, I wanted to quickly change into my own clothes. I didn't feel comfortable at all and when I make a fuss to show the bikini to Alice, I was positive that I would never wear it at a party.

"What is taking so long, Bella? We don't have all day," she whined. "I don't want you to see it," I complained. "Come on. It's no big deal. We are both girls," Alice stated. "Yeah but it's embarrassing." "If you let me see you, I'll shoe you the one I chose for me," she bribed me.

I took a heart and opened the curtain a little bit, so that Alice could peek in. Although I tried to avoid looking at her and focused on the floor instead, I didn't fail to notice her eyes widen, when she saw me.

After a few seconds she cleared her throat. "I guess this is the perfect one. You don't have to try on the other ones." Did she just blush or was my mind playing tricks on me? While I changed, Alice was in the changing room next to me putting on her bikini.

"You can come in," Alice said after a while. When I opened the curtain, I couldn't help but gape. Alice stood there in a black multicolored bandeau bikini, showing her perfect frame. I knew that she was in shape but…wow.

"So, what do you think," she got me out of my stupor. Averting my gaze I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Eh, you look stunning," I stammered flushing uncontrollably.

Still in trance I paid for my bikini and waited for Alice to do the same. All the while contemplating if it could be that I…no that was impossible.

"Did you already think of a present for your brother?" I asked Alice, walking next to her. "I already painted a picture for him but that's not enough." "Didn't you say he is crazy about music? Maybe we'll find something over there," I pointed to a music-store that sold records.

When we entered the store I thought I was in heaven. They sold not only new records but also old and rare LPs. Although we wanted to buy something for Edward I bought a Rolling Stones, a Ramones, and a Temper Trap record. I just couldn't resist.

Alice found the perfect present for Edward, a record from a band I've never heard before. So that I wouldn't come empty handed, she gave me another LP that Edward might like. Apparently was her brother more the classical music type, which I would have never guessed.

After we found everything that we needed, Alice and I just walked through the mall doing some window-shopping. I know it's unlike me but with Alice it wasn't half as bad.

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**I know this chapter isn't very long, but I didn't like the rest, so I deleted it. Please rate and review.**

**Bisous Lily**


	8. Chapter 8

**Wow. I didn't expect such a response to the last chapter, so I guess you like Alice' and Bella's developing friendship. Thank you so much for reviewing and showing me that you still like this fic. **

**I hope I won't disappoint you with this update, because it's sort of a filler chapter but it is important for the following chapters. **

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We continued the window-shopping till Alice dragged me into a small but inviting looking café. "I supposed you wouldn't refuse a cup of coffee," she smiled, leading me to a comfy booth. "They make the best chocolate mocha latte, ever," Alice explained enthusiastically.

As soon as we sat down, a quiet attractive looking young man approached our table. "What can I do for you, _ladies_?" he leered at my petite friend. Ugh! "I'll have the triple chocolate mocha, please," she smiled back. "And what would you like to have?" he turned his attention to me, still with a stupid smile plastered on his face. "The same," I coldly answered. "Seems like you two are the _sweet_ type."

Winking he turned around to walk back to the register. Yuck! I hated people with such a conceited attitude. "Lovely," Alice snickered. "Ew, Alice. Don't tell me you fall for that shit," I asked in disbelief. "No, he is not really my type, but flirting is just too much fun," she copied his previous gesture and winked at me.

Although I knew it was probably just her playful manner, I felt my face turn pink and averted my gaze. Suddenly I was curious. "So, who is your type then?" Surprisingly I felt more confident. Usually I would have stuttered at such personal topics, but now my question sounded rather challengingly. Two can play at that game.

"Huh, you want to know what kind of person I would date?" she raised one of her delicate eyebrows. "Yep, or are you already dating someone?" I questioned her, having Jasper in the back of my mind.

"No, I don't date anyone right now," she answered. "And what is about Jasper? You two seemed to be very close the other day?" I tried to sound neutral. "Like you said, we are just really close friends. We tried it though. A year ago we were dating but it didn't work out. After two months we broke up because I realized that-" she was cut off because the _lovely_ waiter returned with our drinks.

He placed two large cups in front of us and all the while smirking. "Careful it's hot but not as hot as you two, obviously," he winked again. I tried very hard not to gag at the worst pickup-line I've ever heard. He couldn't seriously think that anyone is going to buy _that_ shit. Seriously. Even Alice' smile faltered. Luckily he had to leave our booth because someone was calling for him.

As soon he was out of sight, I couldn't refrain from giggling and Alice joined me shortly afterwards. "How lame was that?" Soon enough the chuckling turned into laughter and I had to laugh so hard, my eyes were filled with tears. Alice was clutching her stomach and tried to calm down but to no avail.

When I was finally able to take a sip of the triple chocolate macchiato I thought my senses were playing tricks on me. Is it able to have an orgasm just by tasting something? I guess it is. I love chocolate, I love coffee and the mixture out of them was heavenly. As I closed my mouth and took another sip, let out a quiet moan Alice laughed once more. "I told you, they are the best."

I didn't speak while I drank because I wanted to enjoy it to the full but after a while Alice couldn't stay silent any longer. "Edward's birthday party will be awesome. Don't you dare changing your mind and stay at home. Promise, you'll come," she faced me with her puppy eyes. "Yes, I promise to come but I can't promise to wear that bikini," I tried to avoid thinking about me wearing that thing.

"What, not for nothing we bought those pretty bikinis. Why don't you want to wear yours?" "You can't expect me wearing nothing but a little scrap of cloth. And I am going to freeze my ass off," I whined. "No you won't. I'll make sure it's hot enough for you," when she realized her double meaning of her sentence she smirked. Jeez! This girl drove me round the bend. I shot her a skeptical glance. "Still, I don't feel comfortable shoving that much skin. And don't even try to talk me into wearing a hula skirt " I folded my arms.

"What!" she mock glared at me. "But you would look adorable in- Oh shit, the waiter glances in our direction, there's no way I can handle his _charm _one more time. Grab your stuff and run!" she laughed throwing some bills at the table and in one swift motion she took her bags and pushed me out of the café, leaving a baffled waiter behind.

"You are nuts!" I exclaimed trying to catch my breath. Alice shrugged her shoulders, linked arms with me and walked toward the exit, while I shook my head in amazement. She really was something else.

"What's the deal with the party, anyway? I mean Jess and Lauren won't stop talking about it. How many people do you expect?" I asked her curiously in the car. "Well, I'm sure my brother will invite Jasper, Rose and Emmet of course, his football team, and the cheerleaders, cause he is a little perv. I don't know I guess a lot of people will come. Thank God, we have huge house," she grinned.

"And your parents are okay with that?" I doubted that my parents would allow us to have a party at our home. "Yes, they want visit their friends in Seattle this weekend. They allow us to celebreate in our hous as long as we tidy up afterwards," she groaned. "The most important things we'll remove to the basement. I'm looking forward to start decorating our house and garden, it will be so much fun. Tomorrow my mother and I are going to make the arrangements," her eyes twinkled with anticipation.

"I am really curious. Ooh, before I'll forget it. I'm pretty sure that Jessica and Lauren will either pester you or your brother to get an invitation. And please don't allow them to come." "Don't worry I'm not really a fan of theirs and I think Edward agrees with me," Alice calmed me.

Again the ride with Alice was way too short and soon enough she stopped in front of my house and Alice hugged me to say goodbye. By now I became accustomed to the tingly feeling, I always got when we were touching, although I still didn't know why I was feeling that way.

Walking through the door and into the house, I saw that nobody else was there. Because the sun was still shining, I decided to lie on the bench in the garden and enjoy the rare sunny moment.

Lying in the garden with my eyes closed, my thoughts automatically wandered to Alice and slowly I began to ponder if I was feeling more for her than a friend should feel but I had no other explanation. Every time I was around her I felt happy and every time I had to leave her, I wanted her to stay. But she was a girl and I have never been attracted to girls before. Maybe it was because I missed my two best friends Jack and Lila so much and my feelings just got out of control. I had no clue. I was just confused.

I wasn't in the mood to rack my brain over it and decided to pay more attention to my behavior and emotions next time. Tomorrow I will see her in school and maybe I was just overthinking the situation.

* * *

Lunch was crazy. Edward, Jasper and Alice were handing out the invitations for Edward's birthday. The scene reminded me on that show sweet sixteen, where everyone jumped at the invitations to be part of the party. The table where Alice and her friends usually sit was now crowded with students and I was not planning to go to them to talk with Alice.

Annoyed I watched as Jessica and Lauren fought their way through the mass of people till they were out of sight. I know it was not fair but I hoped they would return empty handed.

Angela stayed at our table because she didn't understand the fuss and already knew that Alice invited her. To not get into trouble with Jessica and Lauren I told her not to mention it in their presence. Even Mike didn't even bother to ask for an invitation. He rather asked me, if I still wanted to work at their store.

"Yes, I do. Just tell me when I should come around," I told him. "Anytime, if it's not too spontaneously you can come today," he suggested. "Yeah, sounds good but I have to ask my brother if he can drive me." It sucked that I always had to depend on other people. I just wanted to have my own car.

"I can drive you. We can go after school, if you want," Mike offered hopefully. I didn't get why he wanted me to work with him so badly. "Okay." "Great, let's meet at the parking lot, then."

After lunch I met an exhausted looking Alice on my way to Biology. "Hey, have you been attacked by some wild animals?" I lamely joked. "Yeah, kind of. It's just a fucking party. I don't know why everyone has to be so stoked," she sighed.

"Yeah, I see but now you know that everyone is excited to come and wants to have fun. You don't have to worry about them being boring guests," I couldn't bear to see her other than happy.

"Here, those are for Angela and you," before we reached the classroom Alice pulled two envelops out of her bag. "Thanks," I took them before anybody could see it. I felt like a drug dealer.

Throughout the entire lesson I tried to figure out if I could possibly be feeling an attraction for my newly found friend. The first thing I noticed were her beautiful eyes. I could get lost in her deep blue eyes. Actually, her whole appearance and graceful movements intrigued me. Some might call her stuck-up or conceited but I knew they were wrong; otherwise she would have never talked to me. Then there was her intelligence. She had the answer to every question the teacher asked. I am sure I would have noticed more positive characteristics but I didn't want to be caught watching her and at some point I needed to follow the lesson, so I tried to focus on the teacher.

For all I knew I was definitely not averse to be near her, but I was afraid to develop feelings for her. First of all she was a girl, secondly I knew she likes boys because she dated Jasper and thirdly even if she might like girls I was definitely not her type. I was screwed either way. And I forgot to mention that I didn't want to risk our friendship because of my stupid hormones or whatsoever.

At the end of the lesson Alice confessed that her brother also invited Lauren and Jessica because they wouldn't stop being a pain in his ass. "But you don't have to worry, we can try to ignore and avoid them," she didn't look happy about it either. "Fine, but now I have to listen to their silly conversations; about what to wear or which guy was their new "target" and so on," I groaned.

After school, I sat together with Mike in his car. All the time I was feeling awkward and uncomfortable. It was nothing like the drives with Alice, where I didn't have to think about what to say next. Mike tried to be cool and witty but I had to force my smiles, which didn't notice.

When we finally reached the store, I was relieved to get out of the car. Olympic Outfitters was a nice small store and Ms. Newton was a kind woman who seemed to like me immediately. I She just asked me about my family and school and how I liked Forks so far.

In the end I had the job, without doing anything. I just politely answered her questions and asked her which tasks I needed to take. Most of the time I would work together with Mike, which was okay, I guessed. At least he wasn't as annoying as some other people I knew.

Okay, he was a little bit annoying, even more when he asked me, on our ride to my house, if I wanted to go to the cinema with him. I declined as politely as I could and told him that I already had plans with my family, which was a lie.

"We can go to Edward's party this weekend. We are both invited and it might be fun," he didn't let up. When did he get an invitation anyway? "I'm going with Angela, Lauren and Jessica but you can come with us. I'm sure Jessica won't mind it," I suggested, although I knew I would try to avoid him too. "Great, I can pick you up, or do you drive with your brother?" "I guess I'll drive with Emmet, since he goes there too you don't have to waste gas unnecessarily," I crushed his hopes again.

As soon as he stopped in front of my house, I quickly said goodbye and rushed to the front door, for fear of any further invitations.

* * *

**Please don't forget to leave a comment.** **It makes my day when open my email account and see that I have new alerts. **

**I will try to reply to each review individually.**

**PS: It might again take a week or so, till I'll post the next chapter because now I have two stories that keep me busy, but with your encouragement I try to update as soon as possible.**

**Bisous Lily**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys! It's been awhile since the last update, and I am really sorry for that. College + some none-too-pleasant events = very little free time. **

**Thank you ****anagnophile for reading through this chapter. You are awesome!**

**So, here's the ninth chapter. Hope you'll like it.**

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"We'll look so hot in our outfits tonight," Jessica smirked to Lauren sitting at the cafeteria table opposite me.

"Yeah, totally. Shall we still go to the hairdresser after school? I don't want to look all greasy," Lauren whined. Did I miss something and we're going to prom and not to a simple birthday party? I turned my head just to roll my eyes, when I saw Miss Mallory grinning at her reflection in a hand mirror.

"Hey Ange, when do you want go to the Cullens'?" I tried to tune my two "favorite" friends out.

"According to the invitations, the whole thing starts at 8 pm, so we could-" but she was rudely cut off by Lauren, who unfortunately decided to be part of our conversation.

"Of course, we're not going before 8:30. Duh! Only losers show up on time. And I have an appointment at the manicurist and…"

Okay, that's it. I need to escape Lauren's stupidity, or else I am going to do or say things I might regret later. "We'll discuss that later," I told Angela, grabbing my still half-full tray to throw it in the trashcan. I lost my appetite anyway.

As I was about to exit the cafeteria, I saw Emmet approaching me from the corner of my eye. From the way he scratched his head avoiding my gaze, I could tell that he either wanted a favor or had some not so pleasant news.

"What's it?" I asked, expecting the worst.

"Eh, I kind of told Rose that I could pick her up this evening. Would you mind asking Angela if she could give you a ride?"

"No worries. I'll ask her later." I was okay with it as long as I didn't have to share a car with Jessica or Lauren.

"Cool," he quickly hugged me and rushed back to his friends, where Alice was waving wildly at me. I smiled back before I headed to my next class.

The last few days, Alice had been very busy making preparations for the party and decorating her house, but when I offered my help, she declined, saying something about a surprise.

Today's school day was horrible. I had a hard time ignoring all the conversations about tonight and I was constantly worrying about what to wear. I mean, by no means will I wear just a bikini and I didn't want to wear a skirt. I didn't even have a skirt.

Even Emmet annoyed me on our ride home. "So, what are you going to wear tonight? A coconut-bra and a Hawaiian grass skirt?" he laughed.

"Yes, you are right. That's exactly what I'm going to wear tonight," I retorted.

Alice was right; today was one of the few days in Forks where the sun was shining brightly.

"Shit." I balled up the second piece of paper while trying to wrap the record I bought for Edward. I hated gift-wrapping. My edges always looked like crap. Nicely wrapped presents were a mystery to me.

When I finally tied the bow, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. It was Angela. "Hey, Bella. What are you doing right now?"

"Nothing. I just wasted half of our wrapping paper. So what's up?" I asked her.

"I know that we have more than two hours till the party starts, but I'm about to go crazy. I just have no idea what to wear tonight. Have you found an outfit yet?"

"No, I'm just as clueless as you are," I sighed.

"Do you want to come over, so we can decide together? You can bring your own clothes or you could wear some of mine, if you want to. I think we're about the same size," Angela suggested.

"Yeah, sounds good. I'll ask Emmet or my mum to drive me. I'll be at your place in about twenty minutes. See you in a bit." She needed to give me her address because I've never visited her before. I was glad to know that I was not the only one who didn't know what to wear, and Angela knew me better than to try and coax me into wearing a micro-mini.

I hoped that Emmet could drive me because I didn't feel like getting one of my mum's speeches. She tends to think that I would do anything she did when she was my age. And my mother wasn't the innocent girl I'd like to think she was.

Lucky me, my mum offered to drive me when I told her that I wanted to visit Angela. Yay! So I mentally prepared myself for an embarrassing car ride.

Grabbing the present, and reluctantly my bikini, I pondered what else I should take with me. After sorting through my clothes, I went for a blue plaid blouse and my black wayfarer Ray-Bans.

Halfway down the stairs I heard my brother calling for me. "Hey, Bells. Come here. I need to show you something." Begrudgingly I did what he asked and entered his room. As soon as I saw my brother, I burst out laughing. Emmet couldn't seriously think that I would not laugh at his appearance.

My _big_ brother stood in the middle of his room with crossed arms, wearing some green-checkered boardshorts, black flip-flops and the ugliest Hawaiian shirt I've ever seen. Its orange color clashed violently with the green shorts. I had to avert my gaze to compose myself. As I got a hold of myself after the laughing attack, I looked up at him only to giggle again when I saw that he was struggling not to laugh too.

"This is ridiculous! I'm just glad that the other guys are wearing similar clothes," Emmet looked helplessly at his shirt.

"At least you know what to wear. I'm still unsure," I sighed.

"Hey, look what I got here," he closed the door and rummaged around in his closet only to pull out two bottles: one tequila, and one vodka.

I groaned. "Are you insane?" I hissed. "What if somebody calls the cops? Do you want dad to show up?" God, that would be so embarrassing.

"Calm down! It's just a little bit. It will be fun. You'll see. Don't be such a prude," he lightly nudged my shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever. I need to go now."

That's why he wanted to drive with Rosalie. Just to get drunk. I just hoped that it wouldn't backfire on Edward and Alice. Their parents trusted them enough to leave them their house without supervision, confident that Edward and Alice would have everything under control.

"Well, are you excited about the party? How is this Edward guy? Do you like him? Is he cute?" Renee asked me a hundred questions at once at our drive to Angela's.

"Mum!" I felt my cheeks glowing hot.

Apparently she misinterpreted my blush. "Ooh, you like him. But be careful tonight. Keep it slow, okay," she advised me. I knew this car ride was going to be awkward.

Finally we arrived at Angela's home. "Bye mum," I quickly hugged her to get out of the car but mum was faster.

"Keep an eye on your brother. I know that sometimes he pushes things too far," she grinned, said goodbye and drove off.

* * *

"Ange," I hesitantly asked her, lying on her bed while she threw several articles of clothing toward me, "are Alice and Edward full siblings? I was just wondering because their birthdays are so close."

"Oh no, they're adopted… but I think you should ask them yourself. I don't want to gossip." That's what I liked about Angela; she didn't give away private details.

I realized that I knew very little about Alice. There seemed to be much more to her than just the person I got to know so far.

"Okay, I'll ask her. But not today." I decided to address that topic at a better opportunity.

"It's really warm today so I guess I might as well wear a skirt or shorts." She held up some pairs of jean shorts and a dark ruffled skirt and looked at me expectantly.

"Eh, I don't know," I answered.

"You are no help at all," Angela laughed, and flung herself next to me. "I think I'll wear the skirt. You can take the shorts if you want to."

"No, no. Thanks, but I'll just stick to my jeans," I pushed the shorts away, which she swung in front of my face.

"Why? That's not very Hawaiian-like," she complained, looking disapprovingly at my skinnies. "But you brought a bikini, right? I heard that the Cullens have an indoor pool," she informed me excitedly.

I didn't know if I should lie and get out of it without wearing that thing or if I should risk telling the truth. Unfortunately Angela interpreted my hesitation as a 'yes'. Damn, is she a mind reader? "Great, but still you better wear my shorts. I don't understand why you are so stubborn."

"All right, I'll think about it. What time is it anyway?" I asked, trying to change the topic.

"It's shortly after seven. Plenty of time to get ready," she answered. "I could make you up," Angela suggested.

"Okay, but not too much," _I don't want to look like a Lauren-double, _I mentally added.

"Just wait here, I need to get my cosmetics," she said, heading out of her room.

Fifteen minutes later she was done applying makeup … and I must admit that she did a good job. I looked neither cheap nor excessive.

While Angela got ready in her bathroom, I quickly changed into the bikini, my skinnies and the plaid shirt. Except for the makeup, I didn't look much different.

When Angela was ready she had some bad news for me, "You don't mind if we pick up Jessica and Lauren on our way to the party, do you? They found out that some kids want to sneak alcohol in and 'in case they want to drink something' they won't be able to drive."

Wonderful! Not only did it mean that I had to spend even more time with them, but I also feared that I'd be surrounded by tipsy and drunken teenagers. At least Angela had to be sober.

In front of Jessica's house we waited fifteen long minutes till Angela decided to check up on them. I stayed in the car assuming that it couldn't take any longer. It was already 8.30 and I grew a little impatient because I had promised Alice not to be that late.

The loud beeping of my cell phone startled me for a second and made me jump slightly. Expecting a message from Alice asking where I was, I quickly pulled my cell out of my pocket but my face fell immediately as I read the text.

_Hey Bella, when are you going to be at the Cullens? Can't wait – Mike_

Where did he get my number anyway? I reluctantly answered: _I don't know. Maybe in 10 minutes_

_Okay, I'll wait in the driveway – Mike. _

Groaning, I stuffed my cell back in my pocket without bothering to text a reply. I was so not looking forward to seeing him.

After another five minutes I finally saw Angela, Jessica and Lauren approaching the car.

They were both wearing matching pink leopard minis, far too tight-fitting tank tops were showing far too much cleavage and even from a distance I could tell that they were wearing far too much makeup.

Although it was still warm outside I knew that they were going to freeze their asses off. While they opened the car doors, I mentally prepared myself for their usual chitchat.

And I didn't have to wait long for them to gush about the party. They didn't even apologize for keeping us waiting. Even Angela seemed to be annoyed and didn't say a word to them.

By the time we finally arrived at the Cullens', it was shortly before nine pm. I wasn't in the best mood. The drive was awful, we were late, Alice was probably annoyed with me and I grew a little bit nervous, seeing how many cars there were.

To top it all off, Mike rushed up to us as we got out of the car. It took all my self-control not to laugh out loud, seeing what he was wearing. If I thought Emmet looked hilarious in his Hawaiian shirt, it was nothing compared to Mr. Newton's attire.

Where to begin… He wore an oversized, rainbow-colored aloha shirt, khaki shorts, tennis socks, black sandals and a straw hat. If he had a camera in his hands instead of a blue cup, he would have completed my idea of the worst tourist.

I was that close to asking him,_ Hey Mike can't you read? The invitation says Hawaiian-theme-party, not bad-taste-party_. But Instead I managed to say hi without giggling like crazy, and tried to not look at him, because I couldn't keep my straight face much longer.

So I grabbed the present, took Angela's arm and dragged her to the house, leaving Mike with Jessica and Lauren behind. Did I say house? Well that was an understatement. If anything it was a mansion.

In the middle of a huge front yard was a white, three story tall, modern and open-designed building with a lot of glass walls. Luckily, they had no immediate neighbors; otherwise they had little privacy.

I would have marveled at the house longer, but Angela pushed me to the entrance.

My cell phone rang when I was about to knock on the front door, although I knew that nobody would notice our knocking over the loud music and the muffled voices and laughter we could hear coming from inside the house.

I smiled when I saw the caller ID flash Alice's name.

"Hey, Alice."

"Where are you? Everyone's here but you," she complained.

"Sorry, I've been held up," I murmured, mentally cursing Lauren and Jessica.

"Well, where are you now?" she said with a slightly impatient tone.

"I'm right in front of your house. I was just-"

"It's about time," Alice opened the door and hugged Angela and me before she gave us two colorful leis. Every sign of a moody Alice vanished.

As we put the leis on, I quickly looked at Alice's outfit. She was wearing a hula skirt, her new bikini, a lei, and a hibiscus flower in her hair.

_Don't stare. Don't stare at her_, I reminded myself.

Before Alice let us in the house, she looked at my clothes disapprovingly. "Bella, what's that?" She pointed at my pants. "That's not what I would call a beach outfit. Where is your bikini?" She still gazed at my clothes.

I shifted nervously as my "friends" glared at me. "Ehm, that's what I wear… at the beach… Shall we go inside?" I asked feeling very uncomfortable.

Alice reluctantly grabbed our hands and dragged us into her house, whispering something to Angela. The party was in full swing, and I tightened my grip on Alice's hand so I wouldn't lose her in the mass of people who were obviously having a good time.

She led us to a large dimmed room, which was turned into the dance floor. Sweaty bodies were pressed against each other and moving to the fast rhythm and changing light show.

The girls were wearing similar outfits to Alice and Angela, and most of the boys wore shorts and open or no shirts so everyone could drool over their _perfect_ abs.

Apparently Alice took it seriously to decorate everything accurately. The walls were covered with bamboo and many flowers, in every color, were attached to the ceiling. Here and there a surfboard leaned against the wall, and even some fake palm-trees were spread around.

Alice disappeared for a few seconds in the crowd while Angela and I deposited the presents onto a table, where a lot of gifts were already piled up. We wanted to wish Edward 'happy birthday' but he was nowhere in sight.

It didn't take long for Alice to return with three full plastic cups, one for each of us. She whispered something to Ange, while I hesitantly took a sip of the punch. Tasting no alcohol I downed the drink, suddenly feeling very thirsty.

Then in a flash Angela was stumbling forward, spilling the contents of her drink all over my pants. I yelped and looked down at my now soaked trousers.

"Oh, shit. I'm so sorry!" She shouted over the loud beat. Great! Now it looked like I had wet my pants. "Good thing I brought those denim shorts," she said digging through her purse.

As Alice started laughing uncontrollably, I immediately knew that they had planned the whole thing. I was annoyed for about 20 seconds, but seeing their happy faces, I couldn't stay mad at them any longer. _You little sneaky things, both of you._

Snatching the shorts out of Angela's hands, I sighed and followed them to the bathroom. Alice and Angela waited in front of the door while I quickly changed into the shorts. Angela was right, they fitted snugly, but for my taste they were too short.

Folding my still wet skinnies I put them on top of some neatly piled up towels. I could take them later. When I stepped out of the bathroom I noticed that Angela was gone.

"Hey, Angela went with this guy Ben to-" Alice looked at my shorts. "So much better. Why didn't you wear that in the first place?" I blushed as she gripped my shoulders to turn me around. "Come on let's dance," she took my arm and pulled me back to the direction of the 'dance floor'.

"Oh, no, Al!" I tried to hold her back, but damn this little girl was strong. "You saw me in PE. I'm a klutz. I'm sure I have a coordination and balance deficiency," I groaned.

"Pff. You are just a little bit… unskilled when it comes to ball games," she giggled.

"Yah, whatever. I'm not going to dance and make a fool out of myself."

"But you play guitar, right? So you must have at least some sense of rhythm," Alice countered.

"But it's not my kind of music and-," But she just continued dragging me to the bar. Yes, the Cullens had their own kitchen bar.

We were not the only people in the kitchen. Edward was searching through a cupboard while Jasper poured punch into three plastic cups. He handed Alice and me the drinks and downed his own in two big gulps.

It was the same punch I drank earlier this evening and still tasted very fruity and refreshing. Before I could finish drinking, strong arms were around my waist and I was pulled into the air, shrieking like a little girl.

Luckily for every one close-by, my cup was nearly empty, otherwise they would have suffered the same fate as my skinnies.

I was only mildly surprised when I saw who had the nerve to lift me onto his shoulders. "Emmet let me down!" Of course it was my brother, he knew just how much I hated it.

By the time he set me to the floor Alice was giggling and even Rosalie, who joined us in the kitchen, had a slight smirk on her face. _Yeah, I bet you love seeing me embarrassed_.

"Hey, sis. Having fun? We just wanted to toast to Edward." He showed me the tequila bottle.

Edward lined up six shot glasses on the counter while Jasper cut three limes into small wedges. Shit. That means one shot was for me.

I had tried alcohol now and then, but I was no fan of drinking hard liquor straight. But I didn't want to be a killjoy either.

Jasper handed us the lemon slices and passed the salt shaker around. I quickly licked the back of my hand, poured salt on the moistened area and gave the salt shaker to Emmet who copied my actions.

We raised our glasses and I inhaled deeply before I licked the salt off my hand, downed the liquid as fast as I could, and quickly sucked on the lime to erase the burning in my throat.

I grimaced, still feeling the alcohol making its way down my throat, but the others seemed to enjoy it. Soon enough the shots were refilled and we repeated the whole procedure.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I saw that the tequila bottle was too empty for another round. I didn't know how much alcohol I could take and I definitely didn't want to get wasted. Especially not around so many people, and certainly not around Alice. I wasn't sure if I could trust my actions while under the influence.

So I refilled my empty cup with more punch, and watched how my brother dared Edward to chug the remainder of the liquor.

Unfortunately, Alice still wanted to dance and I couldn't come up with a proper excuse. Which is why, a few seconds later, I was part of the dancing mass, a certain pixie-like girl dancing wildly in front of me.

Although I had already started to feel a little bit tipsy, and although I eased up a little and danced along, I couldn't let myself go completely. The music that was playing was a mix of electro, house, rock and alternative.

I've never seen somebody move like Alice before. She was one with the music and moved her thin body in perfect rhythm to the beat.

After a few songs, more and more people wanted to dance leaving little room for dancing. It was getting really hot, and I was glad that I had changed into Angela's shorts.

As Hadouken's song 'Mic Check' blared through the speakers, I was almost touching Alice, we were so close. During the chorus everyone went crazy. It was impossible to keep distance between us, and Alice was pressed against me.

I tried very hard not to think about our proximity and the fact that she was grinding on me, but I failed miserably. Everywhere we were touching I felt tingles. Overwhelmed by the many feelings I had at that moment and the effect they had on my body, I stiffed slightly. The fact that she was only wearing a bikini and her grass skirt wasn't helping at all.

Of course, Alice noticed my reaction and looked up at me questioningly. God, I was glad that she couldn't see my reddened face in the dimmed light.

Eventually she shrugged, laid her hands on my shoulders and continued dancing. I relaxed and dared to put my hands on her waist. She didn't mind, she just pulled me closer and we danced like that for I don't know how long. It just felt right.

I could smell the scent of the flower in her hair mixing with her own one. The fruity smell was indescribable and intoxicating.

But our moment was interrupted too soon. "Hey, wait here. I just need to use the bathroom," she said loudly. I used the timeout to get another drink. When I returned I couldn't see her anywhere and decided to dance where we danced before, so she would find me.

I kept dancing on my own until I felt someone approaching me from behind, pulling me close. Assuming it was Alice I leaned back, moving in sync with that person with closed eyes.

As soon as I opened my eyes I saw afore-mentioned person gazing me with wide eyes. I spun around in shock seeing no other than Mike Newton feeling me up. Ew!

I yanked his arms away and pushed him off of me. "Stop!" I yelled at him. Seeing his blood-shot eyes I noticed how drunk he was. He just slurred some incoherent words and stumbled away.

Groaning, I turned around just in time to see Alice turn and run from the room.

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**Okay, this chapter is longer than the others...hope you didn't mind ;)  
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**Thank you very much for all your kind reviews. You are the best!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay, I don't have much to say…But thank you so much for sticking with me, and all your great reviews ;) I know I take way to long for my updates****, and I am so very sorry…**

**And thank you Jess! You Rock :)**

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"Alice?" I whispered. I scanned the room but I couldn't see her anywhere. I don't know what came over me but I had just one need: to find Alice.

So I ran past the spot where I had last seen her, pushed through all the dancing people and in to the kitchen. When I couldn't find her there either, I started to panic.

Why did she run away? Was it because she thought Mike and I...? Could it be that she was jealous? No, I didn't want go get my hopes up. I would know when I found her, anyway.

After looking in the kitchen and checking the bathroom, I considered going upstairs, but I didn't want go there without permission. Furthermore, I didn't even know where her room was.

Of course, I tried to call her phone but she didn't pick up, and she didn't reply to my text message. In the corner of the living room I saw Emmet and Rosalie dancing _very_ close and I really hated to disrupt them.

"Ehm, Emmet? Have you seen Alice anywhere?" I asked him, tapping on his shoulder. He turned around and bent over a bit to hear me better and I repeated my question.

"No, I haven't seen her around. You should ask Jasper!" His voice drowned the loud music out. He gestured to the other side of the room as Rosalie glared at me. I ignored her and quickly made my way to Jasper who obviously was uncomfortable in Lauren's presence.

"Hey, Jasper. Do you know where Alice might be?" For a second he looked like he was having an internal debate, but in the end he told me that he saw her running out to the garden a while ago.

My eyes had to adjust to the torch-lit garden before I could orient myself.

I had to search for several minutes before I found her because their garden was very large and half of the teenage population of Forks seemed to be at Edward's party. I walked around until the silhouette of a tiny person, sitting alone near a small stream, caught my attention.

I approached slowly, so that I wouldn't scare her away. I know she must have heard me, but she didn't acknowledge my presence. Even as I sat next to her, she just kept staring blankly at the moving water, her arms firmly wrapped around her legs.

Because I didn't know what to say or how to react, we just sat there for a while until I couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Hey, Alice?" I started tentatively. "What's wrong?" I scooted a little closer so my knees were touching her arm.

She just sighed and lowered her head, hiding her face from my view. I wanted to scoop her into my arms and tell her reassuring words, but I didn't know if that would be appropriate. Sometimes I wished I could read people better, because I couldn't figure her out at all.

When I heard that she was sobbing lightly, I couldn't bear it anymore and wrapped my arms around her. That was when I felt goose bumps along her arms and I noticed that she was still wearing only her bikini and the grass skirt.

"Al, you are freezing! How long have you been sitting here?" I pulled away from her to unbutton my shirt so she could wear it.

She pulled it over hesitantly and fidgeted with the buttons, still sobbing lightly.

"Hey, you can tell me. It's okay." I laid an arm around her shoulders.

Alice opened her mouth to reply, but she turned her head away instead.

"Is it because of me? Did I do something wrong?"

Her only response was to inhale sharply, so I guessed I was right. I was the reason my new friend was so upset.

"Shhh… It's okay. You can tell me," I tried to comfort her.

"Okay," she whispered. I was shocked because I didn't expect her to talk to me yet.

"It's just, I don't want to lose you…as a friend," she murmured. Now I was confused. Why would she lose me as a friend?

"Why do you say that? I might have only known you for a short time, but I want us to stay friends no matter what," I confirmed.

"Can you promise that?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course. I promise."

"Okay." She inhaled deeply, and when she spoke she looked everywhere but at my eyes.

"I don't know how to begin. Like you said, we haven't known each other very long, but every time we are together it feels like we've known each other for ages and you make me feel things…" She smiled a little.

"I don't know. How can I say it without sounding cheesy? But every time you laugh I am happy, and every time we touch I have these weird feelings. And tonight, as we danced, I thought that maybe you had these feelings too. But when I saw you with him, I knew that I was wrong," she sobbed.

"And now that I've told you everything, I'm afraid that you won't want to be friends with me anymore. I mean, can you still be friends with me?" She looked up with blurred eyes.

I just sat there frozen. When she was speaking, it was like she was explaining my own thoughts. And now that I knew that my feelings weren't one-sided, I was overwhelmed.

Slowly I realized that I hadn't said anything, and that I hadn't answered her last question. Just as I started to say something, she interrupted me.

"I knew it. How could I –" but she was cut off by my lips pressing gently to hers. I closed my eyes, relishing the soft feeling of her lips on mine. They were cold, like her whole body. One of my hands found its way to her back, and I pulled her further to me so that my body heat could warm her.

At first, Alice didn't respond, and just sat still, but as she started moving her soft lips in sync with mine, a pleasant feeling ran through every part of my body.

I'd never been kissed like that before. It was the best kiss I'd ever had. I never wanted it to stop, but eventually I had to pull away a few inches to take some ragged breaths.

Smiling, I opened my eyes and wiped my thumb over her tear-stained face, making her smile too. God, she was beautiful: her well defined features, her pink lips, and her eyes. I could get lost in her huge dark eyes, but first I had some explaining to do.

So I told her everything. I explained the way I felt around her, especially when we accidentally touched, that I loved her presence, how confused I still was, and how much I had enjoyed dancing with her.

"But what was that with Mike? You two looked so intimate." Alice hesitated.

"Well, I was kind of thinking he was _you,_" I whispered. Fortunately it was dark outside and she couldn't see the blush creeping up my cheeks.

"Oh," she gaped. "That explains a lot." And suddenly it was Alice who crushed her lips to mine. This time the kiss had more urgency. But I gladly let her take control.

We were one. Her hands were wrapped around my neck and my arms were wrapped around her waist. As she trailed one hand slowly down my spine, while the other pulled me even closer, to deepen the kiss, I felt my heart racing wildly in my chest.

I was surprised when I noticed it was _my_ tongue tracing her bottom lip, and I was even more surprised when I heard a muffled whimper coming from her.

Soon enough our tongues were moving in a steady rhythm. She tasted like a mix of the fruity punch, lemons, and something else.

Okay, I have to take back my earlier comment because _this _was now the best kiss I'd ever had.

Our hands were moving all over each other, and when I felt her cold hand roaming around my lower back, I realized that I was only wearing shorts and a bikini top.

Out of breath, we pulled away simultaneously.

"Wow," I gasped.

"I know," Alice giggled.

I couldn't describe the amazing feeling I had, and I relished the moment, just holding her.

"I think we should get back. It's getting really cold." I locked eyes with her.

"But I don't want to go yet," she pouted.

"Yeah, me neither, but you are freezing and I don't want you to get a cold. Come on." I took her hand and lead her back to the house, her fingers entwined with mine.

Once we were inside, I noticed that most of the people had already left, but the number of slightly buzzed teenagers seemed to have increased.

"So, do you want to continue our dance?" Alice whispered into my ear, making my heart flutter.

"Okay, but only if you promise not to leave me alone on the dance-floor again," I smirked.

"Promise! Now, hurry! I love this song." Alice pushed me into the middle of the dancing people. After two songs, I heard the annoying laughter of my brother next to me.

"Oh, no! Bella, why are you wearing your bikini? I thought for sure you would chicken out." He looked at me with a fake frown. "How did you manage that?" he asked Alice.

Slightly confused I turned to face her.

"Now that would be telling! You owe me 20 bucks," she laughed.

_Just great! They were betting on me, _I thought, as I realized what they were talking about. I made a mental note never to bet against Alice. She seemed to be unbeatable.

"Yes, you won…Hey Bella, Angela was asking for you. I think she wants to go home. She said something about Lauren not knowing her limit, or something," he told me.

"Okay, I guess I'm going home, then." I sighed.

I didn't want to go yet, but I didn't want to leave Angela with a drunken Lauren, and I didn't want my dad to worry too much. So we found Angela, who was steadying a swaying Lauren, and I said goodbye to Alice, my brother, and their friends.

_What a night_.

As I sat in the car and thought over the events of the party, I was beaming inside.

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**Haha, there ****it is! ;) Did you like it? **

**I know this chapter is not so long…sorry!**


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